


Hanging by a String

by beanguni



Category: VIXX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Angst, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, References to Drugs, Smut, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Violence, depends on the couple really, i'll tag the pairings as they happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2019-06-07 00:01:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 204,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15206384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beanguni/pseuds/beanguni
Summary: Relationships are like strings, some are strong enough to not tear in the face of anything, others seem to falter with the breeze of the wind. Soulmates, platonic or romantic, are tied by the most powerful string there is, a bond so strong that some say it can never be broken. When fate is settled on running its course, 6 people with totally different backgrounds will have to give up everything they thought they knew about the world and themselves to help the ones they love, regardless of them sharing soulmate marks or not.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ok here it is, my CHILD, this has been a long time coming. i hope you enjoy it, i really love writing it.  
> i chose to not put the couples so it wouldn't ruin the plot, but you know, 6 is an even number....... 1st and 2nd are mostly introductions, so if something's confusing, i will cover it in the next chapters, i think this fic will be quite a long one anyway you guys will catch up

There was an uncomfortable heat radiating from the thin lines of Sanghyuk’s mark to the rest of his body, the skin around it tight like he had itched it raw. Bothered by it, he brushed his fingertips lightly over the blue mark, his senses confused by the odd sensation of having the skin under his digits be at a completely normal temperature at the same time as he felt it warm from the inside. The familiar energy that was as part of him as any of the other ordinary 5 senses was running through his body frantically, racing his heart and drying his lips.

Taekwoon had told him to not call unless he was dying, as a badly timed call could blow his cover in seconds and make his boss really angry. No one in their right minds would want that. Sanghyuk wasn’t dying, but he felt someone else was.

The anxiety from waiting when he knew something was wrong was maddening, he paced back and forth in his office, the lack of windows making him feel as if there was not enough air to breathe and he would suffocate. Sanghyuk kept whispering comforting phrases to himself _they’re okay, everything is fine_ , as if speaking the words out loud would actually help them to become true.

He heard a noise upstairs and held his breath, stopping in the middle of the room and turning his head to stare at the dark corridor. Only two people had the key to that house, so he wasn’t afraid of who was coming, rather _how_ they were coming.

“Sanghyuk!” The boy heard the familiar voice before he saw the one who spoke it, the hint of despair in the tone making his heart do a flip on his chest.

Out of the darkness of the corridor appeared Taekwoon, his hand firmly around the waist of a pale looking Jaehwan, holding him up straight. Jaehwan’s dark brown fringe was damp from sweat, the locks sticking slightly to his forehead. His arms were loose on his sides like they had no connection to his body and his knees bent slightly, making it clear he was not holding his own weight.

Sanghyuk didn’t have to touch his soulmate to feel his weakened energy, to feel it draining from him. Sanghyuk forced himself to move towards a table in the corner and Taekwoon followed, dragging Jaehwan along like a raggedy doll, pushing him on it lightly and guiding his head by a firm grip on his neck to fall limply on the surface.

Jaehwan’s breathing was slow and deep as he stared at the ceiling, every breath that he took spending an abnormal extra fraction of a second in before he exhaled quietly. Taekwoon was standing worriedly next to his head, hand touching his arm over the fabric of the thick navy suit.

“What happened?” Sanghyuk asked as he hurriedly opened a drawer, grabbing a stethoscope and turning his eyes to Jaehwan again, pushing Taekwoon's hand away so he could get closer to Jaehwan. He was trying to remember to control his breathing, knowing that it would help him to keep calm and think clearly. He had to think it was just another patient.

“We finished a job near Gangnam about 2 hours ago and he started to complain about a headache once we got back to my place,” the older began as he watched Sanghyuk ripping most of the buttons on the brown-headed man’s expensive shirt with a single pull, gaining more access to his chest area, placing the end of the stethoscope there. “Then he started to sweat a lot and suddenly he just was on the floor.”

Sanghyuk’s skin was on fire as soon as he touched Jaehwan's, his mark buzzing and sending heat waves that went through his whole body, even more noticeable due to his soulmate’s unusual cold skin. The electricity was so nauseatingly strong Sanghyuk became lightheaded, blinking hard to keep his vision clear.

“Seizure?” He moved Jaehwan’s damp fringe roughly to the side, hovering close to his face and holding one of his eyes open to check his pupils.

Jaehwan felt as if he was 20 meters underwater, the voices that came from the surface getting distant from him, the darkness he was heading to seductive and inviting. The cold was paralyzing, making him sink deeper, the pressure on his chest pushing the air out of his lungs. He gasped for air but couldn't get any, tried to move but his body didn’t seem to obey his mind. Terror took over when he realized he was drowning, the fog of unconsciousness threatening to take over his senses.

“Yes, once he stopped I carried him to the car and brought him here,” his voice broke at the end of the sentence, so he cleared his throat and continued, “the road was clear, we got here in 15 minutes.”

“Did he eat anything? Drink anything?” Sanghyuk asked as he grabbed a few things from a shelf nearby, only glancing at the labels, as he knew exactly what each one of them was by now.

Sanghyuk was young, but that by no means meant he was inexperienced. Before he got underground he was already the top of his class, making medicine seem like an easy science. Despite the tragic life story and rough circumstances growing up, he excelled at his studies from an early age, managing what seemed impossible and passing an exam that allowed him into medical school at the age of 16.

The orphanage gladly signed the paperwork emancipating the boy and allowing him to get a half scholarship, relishing in the publicity and money that it brought to the place. _Adolescent orphan prodigy of a murdered family thrives against all odds and gets into medical school_ , he remembered reading the headline and wondering how did his life become a script for a motivational drama movie. Sanghyuk couldn’t care less that he was being used for money, complying silently and posing for all photos, lying with the most cheerful grin to the reporters on how his pain was dulled by all the warmth he was greeted by in the orphanage. He would say anything to get out of that hellish place.

Once he got into university, surprisingly, things got easier. He managed to distract from all the repressed torment he’d hidden inside himself with the university’s library books, an unintentional strategy that worked its way to raise his grades. Combined with his lack of interest in socializing with the much older classmates and his genetic lottery, Sanghyuk passed through the firsts semesters with not much of a problem. However, when the part-time job to pay for his living expenses and the other half of his tuition became insufficient, he had to find a quick way to make money. That’s when on his 3rd year, already drowning in debt and desperate, a classmate told him about the high demand for underground doctors. _You can’t hesitate much on the spot. If you do well and they like you, word spreads out and you earn a lot of money fast_. Earn money fast, that was enough to get his desperate 19-year-old debted ass in. What kept him from getting out, however, was the trill he got from how dangerous it all was.

At that moment, however, it seemed it was all crashing down on him.

“Yes, he drank a glassful of cider as he distracted one of our targets and once we were done he downed another one- as a celebration.” A trace of irony marked Taekwoon's words.

“He’s in a drug-induced shock. Probably propranolol.” The black-haired man just stared blankly, clearly waiting for some clarifying. “Medication to lower high blood pressure. But take it in high doses…” he trailed off as he placed a small vial in front of him and grabbed a syringe, bringing it to eye level and starting to dose.

“Makes the heart stop,” Taekwoon whispered, the younger nodded as he put the syringe down on the table. Taekwoon watched as Sanghyuk reached to a higher shelf, not looking through for long before grabbing an infusion bag that read Noradrenaline on it.

Sanghyuk’s heart was beating fast, the realization that his friend’s normally lively aura was dulled down to the point he almost couldn’t sense it almost physically painful to him, but he pushed it all down and kept going. He was as far of a cold person as one could get, but when he was working no emotions could get in his way, so through the years, he’d learned to switch it all off. He couldn’t think that it was his best friend lying there, that his heart was beating so slow that if he didn’t act fast he would die on his hands. He couldn’t afford to think that if Jaehwan died, he would lose the person he cared about most, that fate had assigned him to. He just couldn’t.

“It’s simple and clever, it acts late enough for him to walk out normally and could have been easily slipped in high doses into his drink. His blood pressure is around 8 by 5 and dropping, I’m guessing 20 more minutes and he would have gone into cardiac arrest,” Sanghyuk's said flatly. Taekwoon just stared at his partner, his skin was pale as paper, lips dry and eyes unfocused, blinking slowly.

“It was my fault, Jaehwan had to hook up with one of them because I messed up and left a trail, they knew something was off.” Sanghyuk would be surprised to hear Taekwoon acting so remorseful if he wasn’t repressing any kind of emotion that tried to surface and possibly interfere with his performance.

Taekwoon glanced up at Sanghyuk, face pale and blank expression, waiting for a judgment and punishment that didn’t come.

“This is not your fault, Taek, he handled himself fine for years before you.” The youngest attention was still to the brown-headed, making sure he was making the right diagnosis before injecting him with anything. “Move,” he said harshly before he could pace himself, brushing Taekwoon’s hand off his way so he could place an oxygen mask on Jaehwan’s face.

The younger tore the rest of the buttons on his friend shirt, holding his chin up so he had a clear view to his neck. Sanghyuk poured alcohol on his own hands and the surface of Jaehwan’s neck, tapping roughly on the area to make the vein pop and sticking a needle in precisely once it did, sliding in the double-ended catheter with a smooth move and securing it with a special tape. Jaehwan made a small noise reacting to the aggression, but Sanghyuk knew it was unconscious, in that state he was so out of it it was a miracle he hadn’t black out yet.

With the IV access open Sanghyuk could connect the infusion bag to it, regulating it to a fast drip and grabbing the syringe he’d carelessly put down. He flicked the air out of it, inserting the needle through the other end of the thin tube going inside Jaehwan’s vein and injected the drug at a slow pace.

Reverting the effects of a large-scale drug overdose is difficult as it is in a hospital stacked with plenty of drugs and nurses to help the doctors dose and administer them, so Sanghyuk knew he was barely handling the situation, even though he was doing his best and was more skilled than most doctors. He watched closely as Jaehwan took deep breaths into the mask, counting one long minute on his head. As he waited for some sign of improvement, he started analyzing what he should do next, both his hands touching his soulmate, trying to somehow comfort himself. 

“Jaehwan, you won’t do this to me.” Sanghyuk didn't look at Jaehwan’s face, but at his bare chest going up and down slowly.

 _Hyuk._ Jaehwan felt him before he heard him, his presence sudden but obvious, like he’d been there all along. He glanced around him into the clear water, trying to find where the voice was coming from, but couldn’t point the direction of it. _You were right_ the voice in his mind said, not strong enough to leave his lips. He’d gone past the panic phase,  the cold was numbing his limbs, making it hard for him to keep fighting. With the panic gone, Jaehwan was overwhelmed with drowsiness, closing his eyes and letting the tempting darkness take over him.

Sanghyuk’s heart dropped.

“ _No_ , Jae,” it came as a whisper and it was all instinct acting at this point, he stepped away from the table and sprinted to the other side of the room, grabbing a sealed syringe that already had a drug pre-dosed in. “Fight, god damn it.” 

“Sanghyuk.” Taekwoon’s voice was loud, pure terror in his tone. “Oh my god.” His hands went to his head, pushing hard on his temples as he watched the situation with a horrified expression, something he hoped he would never see.

Sanghyuk’s voice came out almost as loud, unable to mute his emotions any longer, he could see his hands starting to shake, starting to lose control of himself. “He’s not flatlining he just passed out.”

The younger stopped when his eyes caught Jaehwan’s face, his eyelids were hiding his dark brown eyes, the mask on his face forcing air inside of his lungs and his naturally fair complexion emphasized by his sickly pale state. If his chest wasn't moving it would seem as if he was dead.

Jaehwan dead. The thought of it sent shivers all around his body, hitting so heavy on his stomach it was like it had opened a hole inside of him, his head felt light again by the wave of intense energy that had returned to cloud his judgment.

“Hyuk.” Taekwoon’s voice was as delicate as the hand on his shoulder, the boy blinked twice against his wet eyes, realizing his hands had stopped working.

“The fuck am I doing,” he whispered to himself shaking his head as that would help to get rid of his somber thoughts, feeling the gentle hand fall from his back. Sanghyuk’s every thought was slowed by how foggy his head felt, but that didn’t keep him from moving, taking the syringe he’d grabbed moments before, flicking it quickly and putting the needle through the IV access on Jaehwan’s neck.

Adrenaline acts very fast, especially when administered close to the heart, so as soon as Sanghyuk finished putting the drug in, Jaehwan’s eyes opened again, breathing fast and desperate inside the mask.

In a sudden return to consciousness, Jaehwan could breathe, his head above the cold water and Sanghyuk let out a long, relieved breath.

“Should have just gone with adrenaline first.” Sanghyuk’s tone was clearly self-critical, even though in this case he knew he acted the most responsible way, putting his patient through the least risks. “Works better with nora anyways.” 

“You did good, kid.” The soft touch on Sanghyuk’s back returned and had it come from anyone else he would have shaken off, but coming from Taekwoon just filled him with relief, he sighed.

Color was returning to Jaehwan’s face and he started to be more aware of his surroundings, finding he had control over his body again. Last he remembered he was in Taekwoon’s kitchen, now he was staring at an unknown ceiling, his heartbeat getting uncomfortably loud on his ear. His eyes were darting around, confused and afraid, but as soon as Sanghyuk face came into his line of vision and he calmed down. So he had not been kidnaped by the chinese mafia and tied down in some sketchy basement again, thankfully.

“Can you move?” Sanghyuk’s voice attracted Jaehwan’s attention to his face, he nodded lightly, catching a glimpse of Taekwoon in the corner of his eye.

On seeing Taekwoon, he turned his head rapidly in his direction, intending on asking what the hell had happened, but was greeted by a sharp pain in his neck. Jaehwan whined.

“I didn’t say you _should_ move, you idiot.” Sanghyuk stepped closer to his soulmate, his fingers touching his cheek lightly so he would look up again. “I shoved a thing up your neck.” He moved his hand to the clear bag still dripping, remembering to slow the flow of the drug into Jaehwan, now he was stabilizing.

Jaehwan rolled his eyes, mumbling something that got muffled by the mask covering his lips. Sanghyuk moved to remove it, hands delicate in the process, holding the back of his head so not much of his hair would be pulled by the rubber strap. Ironically, as soon as the mask that was helping him to breathe was off, Jaehwan took a deep breath through his mouth, as he’d just resurfaced from deep water.

“How do you feel?” Taekwoon asked, fixing his partner’s messy hair with his index finger, the lack of effort making it seem he wasn’t adjusting it but actually just craving the touch.

“Peachy,” Jaehwan managed to say, voice weak. He brought his hand to his face and rubbed his eyes, feeling an unusual heaviness in his limbs, proceeding to stretch as if he had just woken up from a nap. “What happened?”

“He spiked your drink.” Taekwoon’s hand fell from his friend’s hair, looking more serious.

“I see.” The atmosphere was heavy, silence following.

There were a lot of things Jaehwan wanted to ask, but he saved his curiosity for a moment where he didn’t feel like he’d been run over by a bus and both his best friends didn’t look like they were the ones driving it.

“Oh my god.” He didn’t need to fake surprise, his voice coming out stronger this time, Taekwoon tensed up on his side again. “Your hair is blue.”

“Oh- yes.” Sanghyuk laughed and the oldest rolled his eyes, relaxing again. “Do you like it?” he asked with a soft expression, looking as he genuinely wanted his friend's approval.

At times such as those Taekwoon was reminded of how vulnerable the younger actually was, even if he was one of the most skilled doctors he’d ever met, he was just a 23-year-old kid. Taekwoon had met Sanghyuk four years prior, when he took a close to a lethal bullet on a mission and his last idiotic partner took him to the first nearby doctor he knew of. He remembered lying on a table with what looked like a 17-year-old he had never seen before shoving a needle in his arm, he had no strength back then to do anything other than observe, pleasantly surprised to see he actually knew what he was doing. The rest just happened naturally, Taekwoon liked that Sanghyuk had not been in the field long enough to have ties and 4 years later he trusted him completely, something he couldn’t say for a lot of people.

“It suits you,” Taekwoon said through his still dry lips before the other had a chance to, fondly ruffling the blueberry-colored fringe off the younger’s eyes.

Sanghyuk smiled and thanked him, looking around at his own office as if he was lost in thought. Jaehwan noticed his soulmate avoiding to look at him and caught a glimpse of his shivering hands. He frowned as the younger threw them behind his back, hiding them from sight.

“I’m going to grab some water.” Sanghyuk's voice broke near the end of the sentence and he turned away from his friends, walking hurriedly towards the door, disappearing from their sight before they got a chance to say anything.

“Asshole.” Taekwoon turned to his partner once they were alone and smacked his sweaty forehead with two fingers.

“ _Ow_ , what’s that for?” He whined loudly, twisting his lips and frowning.

“For being a careless prick.” Taekwoon was clearly upset, but Jaehwan knew it was more at himself than anyone else. “Were you this sloppy because they were a side job?”

“No. Well- I was a little more relaxed considering they weren’t our usual type of targets but I’m never sloppy, Taekwoon. I’m sorry, his lips were just too soft.” Jaehwan tried to lighten up the mood.

The reason why Taekwoon and Jaehwan worked so well together was due to the fact they were very good friends. It played well into their dynamic, adding to their established and effective system: Jaehwan would do most of the talking, Taekwoon would do most of the killing. It was ironic how he’d avoided Jaehwan like the plague before they were assigned as partners and now he couldn't even entertain the possibility of going on the field without him. Not that he would ever tell Jaehwan that.

“His lips…” Taekwoon echoed, wanting to punch him.

“I’m fine, never been better, look at me.” Jaehwan motioned to his body, finding out his shirt had magically lost all of its buttons. “Whoa, Sanghyuk, that’s a Balenciaga,” he murmured to himself since the younger had still not shown signs of returning.

Taekwoon snorted. “Yeah, you do look great, next time your heart tries to stop maybe I should just let it.” The younger chuckled at that, throwing one of his legs over the side of the table, foot hovering over the floor.

“Who would be the one kissing the bad guys for you then?”

At that time Sanghyuk came back holding a big mug that was shaped like Sulley from Monsters Inc.’s head, walking towards the table with a weary expression, Jaehwan twisted his lips.

Sanghyuk had managed to stop shaking by staring at the blank hallway for a few minutes when he left the room, sitting on the steps that led to the main floor of the house. The fact that he’d come so close to losing the person he cared about the most had overwhelmed him, a different kind of burning sensation than before warming his face and making his eyes water. The last time he registered feeling anything like that was when he received the news that both his parents were gone.

Sanghyuk delicately put the mug down and slid his hand under Jaehwan’s neck, the touch of his skin to his soulmate’s mark sending a wave of energy through him, a good kind that time, that calmed his still stiff body. He helped him to sit, Taekwoon’s hands on his back actually doing most of the work of raising the weight.

Jaehwan felt the cold mug between his hands. “Thanks.” He took it, gorging in the water, realizing how thirsty he actually was.

“I want you to sleep at mine’s today.” Sanghyuk’s voice was low, but his stare was intense. Guilt took over Jaehwan, it was not fair to make his soulmate go through that, he knew if it was the other way around he wouldn’t be able to deal with it.

Jaehwan wanted to say he was sorry, that he wouldn’t put himself in danger ever again, but lying to his best friend was not something he could do. Every time he left for a dangerous mission he would inform the younger, being truthful when he assured him he would be as careful as he could.

He put a fake smile on, he couldn’t lie to his soulmate, but he could lie to himself. “Geez, these twinks nowadays are so forward. Buy me a drink first.”

“ _Ew_.” Sanghyuk's reaction made a real smile appear on Jaehwan’s lips. The blue-haired casually placed his hand on the older’s neck pulse point again, Jaehwan didn’t even flinch at the touch. “I don’t know how much of the beta blockers they actually managed to slip into your drink, I need to be sure the antagonists I gave you won’t just wear off.” His hand fell to Jaehwan’s shoulder, squeezing gently.

“Sure.” Jaehwan nodded, not actually understanding what he’d heard but trusting the younger regardless.

Jaehwan hopped off the table clumsily, leaning into his soulmate's tall frame and stared up at him with a faked pain expression. The blue-haired rolled his eyes, slid his hand on his friend’s waist and reached for the almost empty drip bag, helping him move to the couch.

\--

The man diverted his attention from his ringing phone to look at the receptionist again, she’d been politely waiting for him to finish filling out the information she needed to book his hotel room, so he didn’t want to take the call and delay the process any longer.

“I’m sorry I’m taking so long, the jet lag is killing me, I’m very tired,” he said in English and gave her a faint smile, hoping his pronunciation wasn’t too bad due to the fatigue and she could understand him.

“It’s no problem at all, sir, take your time,” she replied with a smile, and he turned his attention back to the form again, glad that everyone in the country had been kind to him so far. Filling hotel forms was almost automatic to him at that point, since he traveled so much for work.

His phone started to ring again and he glanced at the screen, seeing the same number that had been calling before. He put the buzzing device into his uniform pocket and signed his name on the dotted line, turning the paper towards the receptionist.

“Here it is. Do you need anything else?” he asked, watching her reach for a room card on a shelf nearby.

“No, here is your key card mister…” she looked at the form and back at his face, making a guess at the pronunciation with a shy smile, “Hakyeon?” It was so wrong he barely could understand, but he laughed and nodded as if she’d gotten it right, acknowledging her effort. “Breakfast tomorrow is from 7 till 11 am on the second floor.” Her cheeks had a slight red tint to them.

“Thank you…” he looked at the nametag on her clothes and made his own guess, “Carolina?” When she laughed and nodded the same way he had, he knew it was just politeness.

Hakyeon leaned back from the counter and bowed slightly, more out of habit than anything since they didn’t bow in Brazil, watching the woman blush harder, waving awkwardly as he got into the elevator.

The hotel was massive, rooms going up to the 37th floor in the high building, distancing him from the crazy traffic noise. Hakyeon was glad he’d gotten a room so close to the top, he enjoyed being close to the clouds.

2405\. “Here it is,” he mumbled when he found the door to his room, opening it with the card and dragging his feet inside.

Hakyeon took off his shoes and jacket then walked to a marble table next to the window and sat down, connecting the wifi so he could use it to return his missed calls. He dialed the number and waited for a response from the other end, unbuttoning his shirt and putting his feet up on another chair in front of him, long legs bent due to the short distance.

“Hey.” The familiar voice didn’t take long to come through, low and whisper-like as usual. “Are you busy? I can call later.”

“No, just got to the hotel.” he was interrupted by a yawn. “We landed and I came straight here, the rest of the crew went out for middle-of-the-day drinks.” 

“How was the flight?” He yawned too and Hakyeon looked at the clock next to the bed, it marked 2 pm, meaning it was 2 am from Saturday in Korea.

“Very long and with a lot of turbulence, so a bit nerve-wracking, but my co-pilot was really good as usual, so we managed.”

“Oh, ok,” Taekwoon replied then remained silent. Hakyeon laughed.

“What’s up, Woonie?” he asked, brushing his hand through his hair and sinking further into the chair.

“Nothing, I just hadn’t heard from you in a while,” Taekwoon said and Hakyeon laughed harder. How he could hide huge secrets from people but was so transparent when it came to his own emotions was a mystery to the older.

Taekwoon had tried to ignore his haunting thoughts through the entire night, but apparently almost having lost his friend opened a door to something inside of him couldn’t ignore. He needed to hear Hakyeon’s voice, him saying that he was okay.

“I called you two days ago and texted you today when I left San Salvador. Are you finally admitting you’re in love with me? Took you long 13 years, didn’t it? Sorry, I’m marked and taken.” He heard his friend snorting on the other side.

“Ok, Yeon, bye,” Taekwoon said with no actual intention of ending the call.

“No, don’t hang up!” He was still laughing, Taekwoon felt the sound relax him a bit more. _He’s fine, I’m just crazy_. “I’m joking, where is your sense of humor.”

“Nothing I can do, there can only be one in this bond.”

“A compliment?” Hakyeon lifted his head, tone dramatic to emphasize he was joking. “What happened? Now I’m worried.”

Taekwoon took the cue to start talking. “My partner got hurt today.” Hakyeon’s smile disappeared immediately.

Taekwoon knew ignorance could be bliss, even more so when his job sometimes included people that swore revenge on him, that’s why he’d chosen to not tell Hakyeon anything about it. Having a family was a weakness he didn’t have, but a soulmate was the next best thing that could be used against him, so he kept his as far from his work as he could. Hakyeon, however, had a very curious nature (or nosy, as Taekwoon liked to put it) and through the years had managed to figure some parts out, but not enough to put the big picture together. The closest he’d gotten to know was when he overheard a phone conversation of Taekwoon with his supplier, complaining about the recoil of his Glock 21, since then assuming he was some kind of secret government agent. Ignorance is bliss indeed.

“Hurt? Did he got shot or something? Are you okay?” Hakyeon asked all at once, sitting up straight in the chair.

“Nothing like it… he’s okay, I took him to our medic’s hands fast.” 

“And _you’re_ okay?” Hakyeon asked again, biting his lip. “This drives me crazy, why can’t you just work in a fucking office?”

“I’m fine, I’m just stressed and you not being here for so long is not helping.” Taekwoon brought his hand to his head, thinking that if he couldn’t see his hands shake, he could trick himself into thinking they’d stopped.

The image was there again, him panicking over Hakyeon’s limp body like he’d seen Sanghyuk panic over Jaehwan’s. His shaky hand dropped from his head and wrapped around his right wrist, on top his mark, their mark.

“And you miss me…” Hakyeoon said, but it sounded more like a question than a response.

“Of course I miss you, Hakyeon, just because I don’t go around screaming it doesn’t mean I like to be away from you for this long.” 

“You know this is the last one I took, Taek… I’m not leaving for this long anymore.” His tone was sweet, his soft heart already touched by his soulmate's rare show of affection. Taekwoon noticed.

Hakyeon had decided to stop his long international tours since he’d met Minhyuk, the fact that he had his soulmate (well, his romantic soulmate) in Seoul waiting for him made him reevaluate if the life he had at the moment was worth it. Before Minhyuk, he would always volunteer to be the one that was away from home for the longest time, traveling and meeting new places was what made him choose his profession in the first place. He realized soon after he met Minhyuk that if he didn’t make a choice, he wouldn’t be able to make his relationship work.

Hakyeon didn’t know Minhyuk for long yet, since this 3 month back-to-back travels had kept him away from Korea for half of the 6 months they’d met, but Hakyeon wanted to get back and get to know him, build something with him. Of course, he would miss his friends and Taekwoon when he was away, but a romantic relationship would require a lot more from him, so that’s why he’d decided to switch mainly to domestic flights, that would mean less income but a lot more time in Seoul.

“I’m sorry,” Taekwoon murmured and Hakyeon felt his eyebrow go up. “I know I’m selfish, I’m just really tired.” His hand dropped from his wrist.

Hakyeon laughed faintly. “You’re not selfish, Woonie, I’m just not used to you _telling_ me you miss me.” He felt happy to hear it, though, not being able to stop smiling. “Is Ken okay?” he asked, wondering what in the world had happened that made Taekwoon that emotional.

“Yes. Ken is very careful, very… aware, always. That’s why we are a good pair. I’m pretty sure it was my fault he got distracted.” He chose his words carefully, intending to explain what had happened without actually giving Hakyeon too much detail.

“Or maybe you’re just telling yourself that because that’s what you always do?” Hakyeon asked, too tired to actually go on his usual q&a rant to try and make Taekwoon slip up and give him more information.

Taekwoon turned his eyes, Hakyeon was going to start his counseling session. “I don’t care whose fault it is, the thing is he got hurt right under my nose, I need to pay more attention, that’s all.”

“Can’t always be the hero, it’s not your fault, Bond.” 

“You can’t know that,” Taekwoon said, smiling over the nickname. “He’s in good hands now, so it’s okay.” He imagined Jaehwan sprawled across Sanghyuk’s bed in an almost dead sleep, the younger probably waking up every hour to check on him.

“Is he in Malibu with Barbie?” Hakyeon asked laughing to himself, the corny joke was never not funny to him.

Taekwoon turned his eyes. “Good you can still entertain yourself with that even after this many years,” he said lying over his couch and finally feeling like he would be able to sleep.

“Well, you tell me his real name and I’ll come up with new jokes.” Hakyeon still tried even though he knew the reply he would get.

Taekwoon snorted. “Nice try. When do you get back home?”

“Next Wednesday, 11 am, Gimpo Airport,” Hakyeon replied immediately, this was the first time he was counting down the days to be back home, he wanted to be near his friends and his family rather than traveling the world, which was new to him, maybe he was getting old.

“Is Minhyuk picking you up or should I?” Taekwoon asked casually, but silence followed. Hakyeon bit his lip, they’d gotten to the subject he tried to avoid.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Taekwoon raised his brow. “Haven’t you asked Minhyuk yet?”

“The jerk kind off…” Hakyeon started in an impulse but then stopped, Taekwoon’s curiosity spiked.

“Kind off…” 

“Disappeared,” Hakyeon murmured, “I think he’s mad at me.”

“What happened? Did you fight?” Taekwoon was confused, he’d met Minhyuk only once before Hakyeon went away. He seemed like the calm type, not prone to fights, but Taekwoon knew better than anyone how Hakyeon could be overwhelming.

“No. I don’t know what happened, when I was in Ottawa we spent hours on the phone then 3 days later he went off the radar,” Hakyeon said, having to actually think about it annoying him. He’d been trying to focus on anything else but that, he hated when things went off his control. “Like _off_ the radar, I can’t get through to him.”

“Not answering your calls?” 

“Or my texts. I don’t know what the fuck is going on inside his head, last time we talked was like 15 days ago, we texted about when I was coming back, then he disappeared.”

“Did he seem angry?” Taekwoon asked just to keep the conversation going, actually too sleepy to pay attention, but Hakyeon was too angry to notice.

“No!” he said loudly, scaring Taekwoon enough that he opened his eyes. Hakyeon took a deep breath and continued in a lower tone. “I’m telling you, nothing happened, he’s just being an asshole.”

“Look, maybe he’s planning a big surprise for you, trying to trick you. Don’t burst a vein out before you know what actually happened.”

“I’ve thought about that, but he doesn’t seem like the romantic type. He’s shy, you’ve met him.” Taekwoon thought back to that awkward day they’d met, Minhyuk seemed frightened to even look at him.

“Once,” he pointed out. “Do you want me to look for him?” 

“God no, when I get home I’ll deal with him.” 

“Good luck Minhyuk.” Taekwoon laughed, actually pitying the guy.

“Oh, I’ve made a list of all the excuses he might have for this and I have all of the answers I’ll give to him to prove why he is wrong.” Hakyeon smirked.

Taekwoon chuckled, he missed his pain-in-the-ass soulmate. “I’ll pick you up at the airport. Text me the flight details when we hang up.”

“I will, thanks, Taek.”

“I think he’ll be at the gate waiting for you,” Taekwoon said truthfully. They were soulmates, whatever had happened they would surely work it out.

“I need you to bring me something in the case that happens.”

“What?”

“One of your loaded guns.” Taekwoon rolled his eyes and laughed.

\--

Sanghyuk rubbed his eye with the back of his hand, deciding to leave anatomy to go check up on Jaehwan again, as if something could have changed in the last 15 minutes. The boy removed the pen that was rested behind his ear for filling the page edge’s with scribbled notes and reminders, placing it on the hinge as a marker and closing the big book, resting it on the floor beside him.

Same as the previous 5 times, he opened the door to his own bedroom as silently as he could, shoving his face into the dim lit room before he actually entered it. Jaehwan was lying sideways on his bed, arms wrapped loosely around one of his pillows, face half buried into it. The boy stepped nearer to the edge of the bed, getting close enough that he could see his friend’s chest rising and falling in a slow rhythm, face completely peaceful in his deep sleep.

Sanghyuk sighed _he’s fine_ and took a step back, preparing himself to leave the room until he realized he didn’t want to, he wanted to stay there like a creep staring at his best friend sleeping. If he didn’t know better he would think he was in love with Jaehwan. The thought made him huff out a laugh, the idea of him and Jaehwan getting together was simply too funny even if the whole dating-your-platonic-soulmate subject wasn’t as big of taboo as it was. 

Some described your platonic soulmate as your other half, aura so opposite to yours it completes your soul, balances your energy. One might compare it to what a blood tie feels, something that makes you gravitate towards the other, strengthens the love you build throughout your lives with something more. That’s how Sanghyuk felt when his skin touched Jaehwan’s for the first time, like he had a chance of having something like a family again.

If you’ve ever lost someone you love, you know how they can take a part of you with them when they go. The void left by the grief remains until you accept the loss and fill it with good memories of the departed, but the feeling that something is missing won’t ever totally disappear, just be dulled enough for you to able to go on with your life. So, when Sanghyuk lost everyone and everything he’d ever loved, it was natural for him to cling to something, anything, good the universe would mercifully throw at him. That something good happened to be Jaehwan, someone who held Sanghyuk up when he was not strong enough to stand by himself, allowing him to try to start filling the empty spaces his numerous losses left behind.

It wasn’t like this from the beginning, of course, getting marked doesn’t mean you suddenly have a best friend or are desperately and hopelessly in love. It just means the universe has shown the person you’re the most likely to be spiritually connected to, both in a romantic and non-romantic way, being up to you to develop and work on building your bond.

“Hyuk.” The voice was raspy but came out in a whisper volume, startling the boy standing regardless. “I kill people for a living, you really think I don’t hear you coming in and out of the room?”

Sanghyuk was close enough to see Jaehwan’s eyes opening slowly, looking for his shape in the shadowy light.

“Sorry.” Sanghyuk felt his ears warming. “Didn’t think you would wake up, I’m sorry,” he rushed through the words, nervousness seeping through them.

“I’m not mad, this is your room. What time is it?” There was no sign of irritability in his tone, which Sanghyuk found odd, considering how much the brown-haired hated early mornings.

“Little past 5 a.m. Go back to sleep, I still have some studying to do, I won’t come in again.” He started walking to the door, bringing his hands to cover his face, still warm from the embarrassment.

Jaehwan's voice kept him from leaving. “Still? You haven’t slept yet?”

“I needed to study a few things,” he said, glad that there wasn’t enough light in the room that Jaehwan could see his lying face.

“All night?” Sanghyuk couldn’t see his friend, but he knew that tone anywhere, doubt.

“My master's degree won’t just award itself to me, Jae, still have 6 months to go.”

Jaehwan knew Sanghyuk wasn’t the kind to pull all-nighters, he didn’t need that. “Are you behind on anything?” He was pressing the other then, but subtle.

Jaehwan couldn’t see his expression but could see his silhouette shifting on his feet. “Well, no, I-”

“Did you see it again?” The interruption was gentle, delicate with the subject as one would be when trying to pet a cat without scaring it away.

The boy hesitated. “No- well, not _again_.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?” 

“No,” he answered quickly, the word lingering in the silence that followed for a few seconds before he sighed loudly. Sanghyuk took a few steps back and lifted his arm to flick the light switch from the en-suite bathroom on, flooding the room with light.

The younger dragged his feet towards the unoccupied side of his bed, lifting the thick white blanket and sliding his longs legs inside in his typical graceful manner, feeling the warmth soothing on his skin. Jaehwan’s eyes followed the other, fingers fidgeting gently with the bandages on his neck as he waited for his friend to settle in and start talking when he felt like it.

Jaehwan had learned through time to adjust to how Sanghyuk’s mind worked, what made him open up and shut down. Pressuring him into talking about his gift wasn’t something he would do, no matter how curious he felt, not seeming fair to push him towards a subject he was so uneasy about.

“It’s something new.” Sanghyuk leaned into the head of the bed, pulling the covers up to his neck.

“The vision changed?” 

“It didn’t change, the last one is done.” 

“Oh?” Jaehwan raised one of his brows, hand falling from his neck to his hip. “Was the vision about last night? I don’t get it, I thought I was gonna drown. I haven’t gone into a pool in 2 months.”

“Yeah, cause the weather is just right for a swim.” Sanghyuk huffed a laugh.

There was nothing wrong about the way Jaehwan was handling the topic, the fact was Sanghyuk didn’t know how to talk about it properly yet. He didn’t want to seem ungrateful for his gift at the same time he was just genuinely afraid of it, even if change was something he was used to.

“You said you knew it was me, that it felt like me.” Jaehwan ignored the teasing. 

“The energy was all yours, bubbly and vibrant…” Sanghyuk’s hands slid out from the blanket to hover around Jaehwan, as if he could feel the aura tangible and solid as anything else in the room. “Even through the fear I could feel it so strong, it was you.”

“But I didn’t drown, Hyuk.” He sounded defeated, losing a battle against his own thoughts.

Sanghyuk knew it was hard to comprehend, he was the one experiencing it and even so he wasn’t able to grasp how it worked. Since the day he was born he had been more tactful than the average person, more prone to feel the energy emanated by the people around him, but that was the extent of it, he was sensitive. This continued for most of his life, he never really fought it but saw it as a part of him instead, it was familiar, comforting. Things only changed when he turned 21, when he noticed his dreams were revealing more than just things on his head.

“I don’t see the real situation, Jae. I- feel it. I feel what the person in the vision feels, I see what he sees,” he swallowed loudly before he continued, “your breathing was shallow when Taekwoon brought you to me.” His voice was calm, trying really hard to remain in the present, not ready to visit the memories from the previous night yet. “So cold too, maybe you _felt_ like you were drowning.”

Jaehwan thought about it for a second then nodded. “It’s still coming back to me, but could be.” He thought back on what happened, the memory still broken into pieces and scattered through his mind. “The only thing I remember clearly after I passed out is your voice. Muffled and very far, but definitely you,” Jaehwan said as he faced the younger, seeing a ghost of a smile on his lips.

“I remember that too,” Sanghyuk said and Jaehwan was confused again. He could almost hear Taekwoon’s voice calling him stupid.

“You remember yourself?” 

“Not exactly. I remember the tingle of my mark when I heard a voice in the vision, probably my own, then,” he said, knowing that he wasn’t making any sense.

“Sure, cause that makes sense,” Jaehwan said and his friend laughter filled the room. “The new one came so fast this time. Is it me again?” He scrunched his nose, not being able to hide how unhappy with the idea he was.

“Pretty sure it isn’t, feels different… feels like another energy. It’s a different person.”

Jaehwan let out a relieved sigh and Sanghyuk smiled. “What was it like?”

“I don’t know yet. It was the first time, so it’s still too–” he tried to find a word to explain, settling in one that didn’t seem fit. “cloudy. I’ll get more when I see it again.”

The visions never came clear the first time. They often started foggy and dark, everything around and inside Sanghyuk -or the person Sanghyuk was in the vision- shapeless. As time progressed and the vision reappeared in his dreams, things would gain form and the course of the events would arrange as they should, allowing him to actually understand something. For the time being, the only thing he knew was this felt different from the other, new.

Jaehwan could sense his friend tensing up the more they spoke about it, how he usually was once he got a new vision, scared it would turn out to be something tragic. “Well, the good news is I’m going for a swim first thing in the morning.” He attempted to lighten up the mood.

“Over my dead body.” Sanghyuk hovered his finger very close to Jaehwan’s face, making him get crossed-eyed looking at it. “You need to lay low for a bit, no active missions.”

“Tell my boss that.” He grabbed Sanghyuk’s finger, making him try to wiggle himself out but not really putting enough effort to succeed.

“I could you know, I’m not scared of him,” Sanghyuk said shrugging his shoulders.

“Cause he is not all intimidating.” Jaehwan finally let Sanghyuk’s finger go and he flicked his forehead before pulling the hand to safety, earning a whine in protest but no retaliation.

“To be fair, his face doesn’t match his personality. He looks– sweet.”

Jaehwan chuckled, face tipping sideways on the pillow. “Sweet.”

“And gentle,” the younger continued, watching Jaehwan’s chuckle evolved into loud laughter. “He looks like a fairy, Jaehwan. Like the type to blush and cover his face if you compliment his hair or something.”

“Oh, _god_.”

“If I see him again I’ll make sure to comment on his new color, see how he’ll take it,” Sanghyuk said jokingly, words getting progressively mispronounced due to his sleepiness. “Wonder how did he get that far up with that angel face.”

“That probably helped him. If that breathtaking immaculate being appeared in front of you the last thing you would expect would be for him to pull a knife out and stab you with it.”

“I see your point, but I wouldn’t mind him stabbing me with his knife,” he muttered, eyes closing and Jaehwan smiled.

“Anyway, you should try to get some sleep or you won’t survive the day, you still have uni and hospital today,” Jaehwan said casually, watching his friend’s expression tense up again.

Falling back asleep wasn’t ideal to Sanghyuk, knowing that since he’d gotten a new vision, his dreams for at least the next weeks or months could all be about it. A vision would normally play itself on his dreams for as many times as it needed for it to be finished, clearing itself a tiny detail at a time. Sanghyuk didn’t like to see that happening, the idea that an event was being designed months before it actually took place was frightening to him. Could he change the course of events? Should he? He didn’t know if his fate was to change fate or just quietly watch an exclusive sneak peek of it before it inevitably happens.

“Or maybe I should just get on Adderall for 3 days straight.” 

“Oh please, come here,” Jaehwan said as he pulled Sanghyuk from leaning on the wall by his shoulders, pushing his body down towards the mattress.

Sanghyuk knew that was more of a suggestion than an actual attempt to move him, but the weariness and fatigue from the overwhelming day were heavy on his body, almost physically forcing him to give in. He slid down to lie completely on the soft bed, comforted by weight of the blanket on top of him. Sanghyuk drifted to sleep almost immediately, the last thing he registered being his friend fondly running his hand through his hair.

Jaehwan waited a few moments before moving, reaching for his phone on the nightstand and sliding his legs over the edge of the bed. Once he was up, he headed towards the door, glancing towards Sanghyuk to assure he hadn’t moved before he opened it as silently as he could and left the room.

As he went to the kitchen, he turned his phone’s wifi on to check his notifications. Jaehwan grabbed his usual glass and filled it with water, hopping onto the counter and sipping as he scrolled through his phone. At that moment his phone buzzed in his hand, announcing a new message.

From: Hani~  
the police just left… thank you, hwannie

To: Hani~  
did they suspect you or changsub?

He went off the chat to look for news, the night had been very busy and the number of drugs that he’d taken really took a toll on his energy, so he had done nothing other than sleeping.

** Brother and sister found dead in a hotel in Seoul. **

  
The Chinese siblings Zhou Yeliang (25) and Zhou Lei (29) were found by a cleaner in a hotel room in downtown Seoul on this Friday evening. The police stated Yeliang died from head trauma and Lei from a gunshot injury to the head, suspected to be suicidal. Witnesses are now being called in to give statements, but the detectives already said the pair were seen fighting on the hotel’s bar hours before the bodies were found, raising the suspicion of a siblings argument gone wrong, the sister accidentally killing her brother and taking her own life after. Further investigation will take place, as both the deceased had faced trial for kidnapping two years prior; nothing is confirmed and the police are set to give another statement in the next 24h.  
On the kidnapping - The Zhou siblings were accused of abducting 2-year-old Lee Jonghyun, son of millionaire couple Heeyeon and Changsub Lee in the summer of 2015. The pair went to trial in August of 2016 with two charges of kidnapping but were cleared of all accusations due to lack of evidence.

He and Taekwoon had agreed not to give the couple any heads up, needing their genuine surprised reactions as support for their alibis. This had been more of a favor than an actual job for them, since Heeyeon was someone Jaehwan knew from his childhood and had not hesitated to help him whenever their paths would cross throughout their lives. She had asked him to avenge her son once the jury had found the Zhou’s not guilty, knowing they were the ones that did it for the ransom money, but Jaehwan could only act once the story had died down enough for her name and her husband’s not be tied to the killings.

From: Hani~  
no  
hyunsik and sungjae were over for dinner yesterday and they were still here drinking with us when the police came at like 2 am   
it was so sudden, we were very shocked

To: Hani~  
good, that’s what we wanted  
go to bed, it must have been a long night  
i’ll call you later, ok?

The response came almost immediately.

From: Hani~  
we owe you

To: Hani~  
erase these texts. night, hani

Jaehwan turned the phone’s wifi off, filling the glass with water again and turning the kitchen’s lights off, walking back to the room.

In a mimic of his soulmate’s previous actions, he grabbed the handle and turned very delicately, trying to make as little noise as he could. The bathroom light was still on, so the moment he opened the door he could see the younger tossing and turning on the bed, blanket and pillows on the floor. Jaehwan swung the door open and walked to the bed at a quick pace, frowning his brows at the sight of Sanghyuk’s agony in his sleep. He was lying with his back to the mattress, both arms opened slightly and hands turned into fists, his knuckles white from squeezing too hard.

“Hyukie.” Jaehwan sat on the bed, body touching Sanghyuk’s. The boy did not wake, continuing to mumble words through his dry lips with a pained expression. “Hyukie,” he said again, louder this time, placing his hand on his friend’s arm and shaking it lightly. Still no success. “Sanghyuk.” He tried again, shaking him harder.

Sanghyuk eyes shot open and he sat up in a reflex, a frightened look as he stared at the wall in front of him, panting as he’d just finished running a marathon. Jaehwan took his hand off him, giving him space and fter a moment of staring at the wall, Sanghyuk realized what had happened, bringing his hands to cover his face.

“Are you ok?” Jaehwan asked, waiting for an appropriate moment to offer the glass of water to Sanghyuk.

“Yeah, don’t worry,” he said once his hands left his face, staring pale and frightened at the edge of the bed with unfocused eyes.

Sanghyuk snapped himself out of his trance after a moment, seeming to realize the glass of water on his friend’s hand right next to him. He took it from his hand delicately, taking a big gulp and feeling it go down cold, staring into nothing again right after it.

“Could you see anything this time?” Jaehwan broke the silence, watching his friend carefully from a safe and comfortable distance.

Sanghyuk nodded, swallowing loudly as he turned to look at Jaehwan’s eyes. “Fire.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here it is, the second part of the introductions. i'm happy you guys seem to be liking it so far; it's my first fic so i'm learning still. enjoy the chapter!

Hongbin heard a loud familiar laughter outside his office and glanced at the watch on his wrist. The sun was shining brightly through the large floor-to-ceiling windows behind him, it was still early in the morning, 8:30 am. Normally people would arrive 20 minutes earlier than they were supposed to when scheduled to meet Hongbin, too afraid to make him wait, but that was never the case for the one he was expecting.

There was a knock on the door and Hongbin took it as a cue to interrupt the man speaking in front of him, tired of his excuses. “I have nothing else to say to you, you can leave.” His tone was cold, almost disgusted, his fingers intertwined loosely on top of the papers he had given up looking through.

“Hongbin, please…” The man in front of him took a step forward, the honorific lingering bitter on his tongue.

Hongbin glared up, a stare terrifying enough to shut his employee immediately. “Please don’t waste any more of my time.” 

The man swallowed back his words like they were poison, warming his body as it went down, his anger almost palpable in the air. He felt humiliated, having heard he was useless and disposable from a boy half his age. However, he bowed respectfully, walking towards the door and leaving without another word. Hongbin sighed loudly, crossing his legs under the desk and resting on the back of the chair.

Through the open door, a familiar fire-red hair was the first thing Hongbin saw. The man was wearing a loose light-gray top, the silk material slipping out of his fabric brown pants and his chest tattoo peeking through. He walked into the big room with a cheerful expression, not seeming to be shaken up by the 40-something-year-old man that just passed by him on the verge of tears. Anyone entering the office on the last floor of that building to meet an angry Hongbin would be terrified out of his wits.

“Morning, boss.” His voice was raspy from the early hour, even deeper than the usual.

“Did you fall off the bed, Sik?” Hongbin was smiling, his dimple showing in his cheek. “I really should put in those protection bars I told you about.” His tone was nothing like the moment before, posture relaxed, being comfortable in the presence of his best friend.

Hongbin and Wonsik knew each other since they were kids, inseparable even though so different from each other they might as well have come from different planets.

Mr. Kim was a very sweet man that had left his life on his native country and moved to France once he knew his girlfriend was pregnant. After Wonsik turned 1, they decided to come back to Korea to raise them together, but in a turn of fate she left them both one night a few weeks before the boy turned 2. When she left, Mr. Kim already worked as a handyman for Mr. and Mrs. Lim, Hongbin’s grandparents from his mother’s side, and had earned their trust, so they offered him a raise to be their grandson’s driver. The job allowed Mr. Kim to take his little boy with him when making sure Hongbin would be dropped off and picked up from school and activities safely, since he’d fought with his entire family once they found out he’d gotten a foreigner pregnant and had money to go back to France and try living there.

Mr. and Mrs. Lee, on the other hand, were both born very rich, arranged into a marriage that would combine two massive rival chemicals companies and strengthen their families names. Hongbin had never wanted anything he couldn’t get, but surprisingly enough that didn’t make him settle, it made him ambitious and determined. He didn’t want to ever be seen as only a spoiled brat, which he could be sometimes, but someone who was worthy of having the amount of power he had.

Regardless of the different backgrounds and contrasting personalities, between drop-offs and playing together in Hongbin’s grandparents’ mansion, the boys developed a friendship that ended up stronger than any other they had, even if they didn’t have the fate’s mark bonding them. They were brothers.

“Well then I would never truly be on time, would I.” The red-haired turned his back on his boss and sat on the sofa away from Hongbin’s table, placing his satchel bag on the coffee table in front of him, starting to look through it.

Hongbin scoffed. “That’s true,” he got up from his chair, following his friend’s cue and sitting on the couch, crossing his legs so his ankle was on top of his knee, exposing the socks from under the hem of his very expensive tailored suit pants. “Why are you here so early, it’s Friday, don’t you have to be at uni in 2 hours?”

“I’m going to collaborate with an evening student for my final paper,” Wonsik said, pulling his covered-in-stickers computer from the bag and turning it on. “We’ll be meeting to talk things over on his schedule from next week on.”

“I thought they didn’t have afternoon classes for computer engineering, that’s why you got stuck with the morning ones in the first place.”

“He is not a CE student. My teacher matched me with someone finishing their master’s thesis. Medicine, master in surgery I think.”

“You know shit about biological sciences, how’s that helping you?” Hongbin raised his brow.

“That’s the point.” Wonsik laughed at his friend lack of knowledge at anything university-related. Hongbin frowned, lips pouted in annoyance. “Interdisciplinary papers really help your grade, Bin. The big companies look for the highest graduating GPA’s to hire.”

“You have the higher grades you course has seen in years, genius,” Hongbin stated what seemed obvious to him, Wonsik didn’t need any help to up his grades. “The problem is that my company is not big enough for you, but I’m guessing your grade is high enough to lure the _good ones_ you want.” there was a playful expression on his face, teasing.

Wonsik laughed loudly, the sound filling the big office, pushing his friend by the shoulder before turning to his files again. “Gosh, you’re so bitter under that sweet face of yours, you know that’s not it.”

“I’m not bitter.” Hongbin got glared at in response, a look that said _yes, you are_.

“This internship is amazing and I’m so grateful for it, but it will never allow me to grow as much as I can.” It’d been a joke from Hongbin’s end, but there was a hint of hurt pride to it and his friend knew it. “And you can’t create a whole division in the company for me.” 

“Well, I can cr-” Hongbin started and Wonsik fell into laughter again.

“And _I won’t let you_ create a whole division in the company for me,” he repeated still laughing, Hongbin shrugged his shoulders in fake sarcasm. “You do enough for me, Bin.” he placed his hand on Hongbin’s thigh and squeezed it gently.

“Well, I hope this guy can keep up with you.” Hongbin changed the subject before they got into soppy territory, Wonsik’s absolute favorite.

“My teacher told me he is like a prodigy.” Wonsik leaned on the back of the couch, now looking at Hongbin and not his computer. “Apparently he is a 95 liner-” His tone was dramatic, wiggling his hands in the air theatrically. “Finishing his _masters._ ” He stared, waiting for a response that was worthy of that information.

“At 22?” Hongbin said mimicking his friend’s tone in mockery, mouth hanging open.

“He’s 23. Unbelievable, right?” Wonsik didn’t seem to notice the black-haired making fun of him, which made him crack a smile. “Got accepted when he was 16, 4th youngest ever for medicine in Hanyang’s history.”

“Wow, that’s actually really impressive. I hope _you_ can keep up with this guy.” 

“My graduating GPA is still gonna be higher than his when he graduated, though.” Hongbin could feel the hurt pride in his friend’s tone.

“What a fucking stalker, you know his favorite color too? What he ate for breakfast today?” Hongbin dodged the red-haired’s hand again, that went full force in his direction that time.

“It’s not like that, I don’t even know his name yet,” Wonsik said in his defense. “My teacher just had a lot to say about him.”

“Sure, stalker.” Before he could finish the last word his friend was cussing at him, Hongbin smiled. “So, what are you here so early for?”

“I finished what you asked me last month.” Wonsik motioned to the screen of his laptop, 4 tabs were open and perfectly aligned, filled with what looked like some sort of coding in purple, green and red lines on a black background.

Hongbin glanced at the screen then back at Wonsik, raising his brows. That meant nothing to him. “What did I ask you again?”

“The company’s intranet, Bin,” Wonsik said patiently, turning the screen to face him. “The last guy left everything a mess, so I changed everything.” He closed the tabs with the coding and opened a model of a website to start showing what he’d been working hard on for the past weeks.

“I figured, he did nothing I asked him to.” Hongbin murmured, squinting his eyes to check more details of what his friend was showing him, dropping his leg from his knee and letting his hands fall in between his thighs as he came forward.

“I switched to a safer system, made it layered, if you will.” He was choosing his words to make himself as clear as he could, knowing his friend knowledge in the area was limited. “The first layer anyone that has the standard Jellyfish employee key can access, same as before, but I’ve added 2 more and changed the last one.”

Hongbin watched as the red-haired continued to explain, paying attention to the website model he’d made to make it clearer. Even if he was very secure at what he’d done he looked tense, it made Hongbin wonder if the reason why he was there so early was that his concern kept him up.

Hongbin was pleased but not really surprised at how much work his friend had put into the prototype, as Wonsik had been showing him through all their lives how gifted and dedicated he was. His project was not only functional but had a totally different design from the previous, making it clear how much attention to detail he had put into it in such a short period of time.

Wonsik always had a way with computers, having self-taught from an early age on how to do cryptography, programming and having algebra as his passion. His choice of course in university was just so he could have a degree under his belt, that would strengthen his previous knowledge and prove that he was capable to the ones that didn’t know him, but in reality, there was not much he couldn’t do or didn’t understand when it came to technology.

“Questions?” Wonsik had a stiff posture, fingers locked and resting on top of his thighs, eyes fixed on the other’s face.

“Will I need 4 keys?” 

“No… This system works in a hierarchy manner, the more ‘clearance’” he made the air quotes with his index fingers, “you have, the more your key can access. Everyone only has one, but their types vary.”

“So we’ll need to change all of the staff’s keys? That’s a lot of work.” Hongbin said casually, not criticizing but rather pointing a fact. He thought it would take a bit of time, but there was no urgency to trade the system in place at that moment, so it seemed fine.

Wonsik’s eyes widened for a moment, shuttering his next sentence. “I’ll do it, but I need more time.” He looked as if he’d failed miserably at his job.

Wonsik hadn’t failed at anything, quite the contrary. He’d managed to create something others would take months, with help, to structure and made it functional by himself in weeks. Knowledge and hard work were not a problem for him, what always seemed to get in his way was his fear of disappointing others, making him so demanding on himself that sometimes he couldn’t go through with anything, under the impression he was never good enough.

“Sik, this is great,” Hongbin said, smiling so his friend could see that he meant it. “You did more these weeks than the last guy did in a year, it’s good.” 

“Oh, you like it.” Wonsik sighed loudly in relief and rested his body on the back of the couch. “Thank god.”

Hongbin chuckled, finding almost adorable how nervous Wonsik was. “It’s good, I like the prototype. Do you need anything to make it?”

“A lot, actually, But I can get it all from your assistant later. Now I need coffee or I’ll die.”

“I figured. Wanna go to the 12th-floor café? I told Chansik to clear one hour of my agenda for you, this took like 20 minutes, I have time.”

“Oh, yes, sure.”

The assistant that was sitting outside the office got on his feet the moment they opened the door, almost throwing the pen over the table whilst doing so, looking straight at Hongbin.

“I’m going downstairs for a coffee with Wonsik.” Hongbin’s voice was strong, hand holding his wrist in front of his body in a formal manner as he stared at his assistant.

“Yes, sir,” Hongbin’s assistant, Chansik, replied immediately.

“What time is the meeting?”

“9:40, sir,” Chansik once again replied with no hesitation.

Standing near the door behind his friend, Wonsik was watching the interaction silently. By then he was used to seeing people shuttering to answer Hongbin’s questions, a lot of the time afraid to even look him in the eye, but he remembered how shocked he was once on his first week on the company. He’d grown up seeing his friend being treated with utmost respect by all those around him, ever too afraid to upset his father, but never feared as he was inside his company.

“I’ll make sure to be back by then.” He nodded once and Chansik bowed politely.

Hongbin turned to his friend, leaning on the door frame ever so patiently, and motioned his hand in a ‘come’ gesture as he went to press the elevator button. Wonsik waved Chansik goodbye with a kind smile, earning one in return, passing straight through Hongbin when the elevator doors opened. They both heard Chansik exhaling loudly before they closed.

“You really terrify him, _sir_.” The red-haired joked, earning a deadly glare in return.

“Funny thing is I’m _really nice_ to Chansik, he works hard.” Wonsik laughed at his friend’s concept of being really nice towards the assistant. “I’m nothing but nice to everyone here, Sik,” it was Wonsik’s turn to stare, raising a brow, image of the man leaving Hongbin’s office crying still vivid in his mind. “I’m nothing but nice to _competent_ people here, Sik.” 

As they walked to the café, all the employees that would cross the boys would bow slightly towards Hongbin in a sign of respect, making Wonsik slightly embarrassed, not used to the attention. They made small talk as they waited in line, turning down all the employees offers to go straight to the front to order, every time making the red-haired ears match his hair.

Wonsik and Hongbin had the habit of going down to the café every time they had a chance, always seeming to have some catching up to do regardless of the fact they saw each other most days of the week, even more since Wonsik had joined the company.

“You’re going out today?” Hongbin asked.

“Yeah, Koharu is going back to Tokyo tomorrow and Jongin wants to go to this rap gig today at a club, he told me to invite you, by the way.” Hongbin huffed a laugh and Wonsik raised his hand to flip him off, stopping himself when he remembered where they were. “Fine! Just stay in your cave then, I don’t know why I still invite you.” 

Hongbin was cut off by a woman bringing their order, placing on the table, bowing and leaving so fast Wonsik couldn’t even take a breath in to thank her.

“Because you don’t like to third-wheel for Jongin and Taemin on night outs,” he said holding the mug between both hands, feeling the warmth pleasant on his fingers.

“They’ve been dating for 2 years, I think I’m used to it and Ru is going too, I’m not third wheeling,” he replied, mouth filled with cream cheese. “It’s gonna be really fun, Bin, you would love it.”

“Ok, next time…” His friend turned his eyes again, he’d heard that before. “No, really. Next time I promise I’ll go.” 

“A Lee’s promise?” Hongbin shrugged his shoulders, sipping the tea again, it looked like irony to Wonsik, but he let it slide.

The red-haired noticed how his friend was just drinking the tea, not having touched his bagel. Hongbin was not a fan of eating in general, doing it so more in the presence of others or when his mom forced him to, but he was usually hungry in the morning. Wonsik glanced down, he was fidgeting with his fingers, watching the buildings outside the window. Nervous, he was nervous.

Wonsik put his coffee mug back on the table. “What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing. I’ve got a bad feeling, that’s all.”

“About the meeting?” Wonsik glanced at the clock on the opposite wall, there was still 20 minutes till 9:40 am.

“I don’t know, maybe I’m just nervous.” He put the cup down like suddenly even the thought of drinking anything would make him vomit.

“You have meetings every week, what’s so special about this one?” Wonsik said, shoving the last of his bagel inside his mouth with a pleased hum.

“There is a company coming to negotiate a purchase.” Hongbin lowered his voice, he knew even though there was no one looking directly at them, they could be listening. “A big one, maybe 17 billion won.”

“That’s a lot of money. Did you prepare?” He glanced at his friend’s bagel and started planning its theft.

“Well, my father told me about this two nights ago, so I didn’t have enough time. But he’s going to be there, I’m just assisting.” 

“He probably just wants you standing there looking pretty, Bin. You’re already doing a good job at that, handsome.” Wonsik kissed the tip of his fingers, sending an ironic flying kiss. Hongbin scoffed. “You’ll do fine,” Wonsik said in a more serious tone as he moved his hand to Hongbin’s cup, pushing it towards him so he would grab it and finish his tea. He wasn’t eating, but could at least drink something.

As the mug reached his owner, Wonsik found the opportunity to complete his bagel theft, grabbing it quickly and bringing it to his mouth, biting with a cheerful grin. Hongbin smiled against the rim of the cup, turning his eyes.

When Hongbin’s phone started to buzz in his pocket, he reached inside to grab it. “Fuck,” he hissed under his breath and quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard it, sliding the green button. “Hi, dad. Okay. Yes. I’ll be right up.”

“He’s early?” Wonsik asked and his friend nodded, sighing. “Good luck. I still have a lot to do here so I’ll stick around, but I’ll call you later to know how it went.” 

Immediately after reaching his floor and opening the door to his office Hongbin got a bitter reception.

“Thank you for the wait, Hongbin.” Hongbin walked over to sit on the couch in front of him.

The man was sitting with a classy posture Hongbin had inherited from him, everything about how he presented himself had power written all over it. From the clothes that he was wearing to the arrogant look on his face, anyone that would look at him could tell that was a man that was used to getting things done his way.

“I’m sorry,” Hongbin said flatly, not sounding like he meant it. “You said you wanted to talk to me before they arrived.”

“Yes,” he said and Hongbin noticed there was a pile of papers on the desk in front of him. “I don’t trust other people enough to supervise this trade, so it’s you and me.”

“Wait.” Hongbin’s eyes widened. “We’ll be handling a 17 billion won transaction by ourselves? There are no other Jellyfish heads helping us?”

“No. This buyer is special, I want to handle them myself. It’s only us two.”

“Dad, this is…” he said in a low tone, watching every word it was coming out of his mouth. “unusual for you. You know if we have help it’s less likely we’ll make mistakes.”

“Hongbin,” he cut his son off. “Do I look like an idiot? Do idiots run trillion won companies? Don’t get full of yourself because I’ve given you a fancy title to hang outside your door, I know what I’m doing,” he hissed and Hongbin broke eye contact, staring at his hands on his lap.

“Fine.” He sighed loudly looking back at his father, whose expression was still peaceful, superior. “What do you need from me?”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” The man smiled, Hongbin was unfazed. “I need you to be at every meeting from now on and to inspect the paperwork to see if what they propose is what they deliver to us in writing.” _If they’re not robbing us,_ Hongbin thought to himself. “Later in the process, you’ll be the one overseeing the shipments to the receiver spot.”

“I’ll supervise the _deliveries?_ ” Hongbin stared at him in disbelief for a moment, not understanding why his father was making him do something his 17-year-old self would do when learning the basics of how to do his job now. Maybe it was one of his beloved tests to see how his son would react.

“Is that a problem?” 

 _Yes._ “No.”

They had people to go over the papers, to go over the distribution, he didn’t understand why was he the one assigned to do those chores, but he wasn’t about to question his father twice on the same day. When the phone on his desk started to ring Hongbin took it as a cue to get out of the uncomfortable talk and stood up from the couch without hesitating, walking towards the sound and picking it up.

“Yes?”

“The clients are here, sir,” the voice from the other end said.

“Send them in,” Hongbin said looking back to his father, that was already walking to stand beside him near the door.

Hongbin stayed still when his father raised his hands to meet his face, patting it on his jawline in a firm, intimidating touch. “Do well.” he maintained eye contact the whole time.

Hongbin wanted to reply sarcastically, but found himself too scared to get actually slapped. He stayed unmoving when his father’s hand dropped from his face to fix his shirt collar and tie, then falling to his own sides, still watching his son face.

There were two delicate knocks on the door and when Hongbin said in a loud voice it could be opened, he saw Chansik smiling faintly as he allowed two men into the office.

The man he saw first had his hair dyed blonde, the roots already grown enough that his natural black color was a part of his long fringe, also peeking through his undercut. His eyes were his strongest features, the catlike quality enhanced by his strong gaze and straight long brows, framed by a very structured face and sharp jawline. Hongbin could see the black shirt and silver necklaces peeking through his red thick coat, going down to his thighs.

He only had so much time to process the stunning man in front of him until his partner walked in behind him, shocking Hongbin once again. This one had black hair, that he had styled in a slight middle parting, the wavy fringe covering his eyebrows and framing his eyes, his round face giving him a softer appearance, contrasted by his intimidating expression. He looked older than the blonde by a few years, even if his black wool turtleneck and long leather coat to his feet did not make as much of a mature impact as the other’s clothes.

“I’m so glad to receive you in my company.” Hongbin’s father voice snapped him out of his trance. “Thank you for coming.”

Hongbin noticed the blonde one was scanning him from his feet up to his face, stopping there and watching his features for a long moment. Eventually, they made eye contact, the stare from the other end so strong it sent chills up Hongbin’s spine, but he maintained a neutral expression, already trained not to be intimidated by clients, or whatever that guy was trying to do.

“It is our pleasure.” the voice came through a wide grin, his eyes peeled from Hongbin’s face soon enough that no one but the boy himself would have noticed. “I’m Heo Jongup, the one you’ve been talking to.” the blonde, Jongup, raised his hand to shake the older man’s first, in a sign of respect. “This is my partner, Park Himchan.” he stepped to the side, making room for the black-haired one, Himchan, to introduce himself.

“Nice to meet you, sir.” Himchan’s voice was much deeper, filling the whole room.

“I’m Lee Joohyuk, this is my son Hongbin.” At the mention of his name, he bowed his head in a greeting, smiling politely without parting his lips.

“Going up those stairs-” Hongbin motioned to his right. “Is my conference room, we can talk more comfortably there. Shall we?” 

Hongbin stepped to the side so his father could up walk up the stairs first, kindly motioning his free hand for both the man to follow, which they did, he went last. The bad feeling was still there, clinging to him like a bad omen often does, but he shook it off, telling himself it was just nervousness from having so much responsibility and money going into that deal.

When they sat on the table facing each other, Hongbin and his father on one side, Himchan and Jongup on the other, there was no awkward silence before Joohyuk started speaking. “So, let’s go over the general terms of the contract first.”

Hongbin opened the folder he was holding and grabbed some copies of the contract, sliding two to the other side of the table as he held onto the other ones for his own use. He hadn’t been given that particular version of it yet, so he began reading it sparsely as the others were discussing some terms, making sure he was nodding in strategic moments so it looked like he was paying attention.

From buyer TS Incorporated under Park Himchan and Heo Jongup.

Product: Benzoic Acid, 30 kg.   
Product: Sodium Carbonate, 2 tons.   
Product: Sodium Hydroxide, 40 kg.   
Product: Combustible Hydrocarbon (Type: Liquid, “kerosene”), 27 tons.   
Product: Sulfuric Acid, 12 tons.   
Product: Potassium Chloride, 8 tons.   
Product: Chlorine (Type: Powder), 50 kg.   
Product: Sodium Hypochlorite, 20 tons.

Not all products available, delivery of type B chemicals estimated in 12 weeks.

He scattered his eyes through the pages quickly, not wanting to seem unprofessional and distant from the clients during the meeting, starting to pay more attention to what was being discussed.

“That can be altered, mark it on the contract and we’ll sort it.”

Hongbin knew most of those chemicals were bought for cleaning purposes in industries of all sorts, so nothing out of the ordinary. The quantities, however, were a bit excessive, but justifiable if they were stocking up or with a large production rate. Even if things seemed reasonable, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong. They both looked too young to be CEO’s of a company that made billion won deals, also seeming out of place in an office and awkward dealing with a contract.

The meeting went on smoothly, discussing mainly the basics, as it normally was for the first contact with a new client that had a long contract to adjust. They would have to alter what was requested before they could move any further with the deal, so when they did as much as they could, a light chatter about random subjects arose. Hongbin could eventually make himself relax, but something about the atmosphere of the place was still heavy to his senses, so he stayed mostly quiet and laughing at what the others would say.

“We would love to stay and talk some more but we have to go,” Himchan said after he and Joohyuk finished a very heated debate on aged whiskey.

“What a pity, it was a pleasure having you here,” Joohyuk said standing up from his chair. “We’ll personally make the alterations before you’re back.” _personally._

Joohyuk went on to place his hand on Himchan shoulder, having hit it off with him the best, so they could chat some more as they went down the stairs. Hongbin and Jongup were left behind only for a moment, the host once again politely motioning his guest should go first.

“Let’s go together,” Jongup said with a smile and Hongbin smiled back.

As Hongbin went around the table to reach the door, he could feel the blonde’s stare once again. Was he still trying to intimidate him? Seemed like an odd thing to do after they had spent almost two hours negotiating and talking, his father was clearly comfortable with them, even if obviously favoring Himchan.

“You know, I think we’ll work well together.”

“Of course.” Hongbin smiled, dimple showing in his cheek. “You seem very passionate about this deal, whatever it is that you’re both working on, with this much energy focused into making it happen, it probably will.” he echoed something he’d heard many times from his father before, hard work makes success.

“Yes, we’re young but we’re very ambitious,” Jongup said once they joined the other two, Himchan agreed with a laugh, the partners exchanging looks.

“Thank you for meeting us, we’ll work on the alterations and get back to you as soon as possible.” Hongbin shot his father a surprised look before he could stop himself, furrowing his brows. _Thank you for meeting us?_ He’d seen more courtesy from his father in that meeting than through the entirety of the passing month.

“Thank you for having us.” Himchan shook Joohyuk’s hand, then went on to shake Hongbin’s, who was trying to make his eyes look normal again and not huge as they normally did when he was surprised.

“It’s been a pleasure,” Jongup said looking at Hongbin, the hand cold and grip as firm as his own. “Sir.” He turned to Joohyuk and bowed as he also gave him a handshake.  
  
“I’m also leaving, so I’ll walk with you,” Joohyuk said as he led the men out of the door, not looking at his son twice as he did so.

When the noise from the elevator doors closing outside his office confirmed Hongbin was alone, he walked back to the conference room immediately. He walked to the table where he’d left the contract they’d been working on and sat on the chair again, now being able to look through more thoroughly.

Nothing about the contract was too unusual, what was getting to him was the way his father was acting and the feeling creeping up his neck, seeming to not want to disappear even now he was alone. He grabbed his phone and googled, _TS Incorporated._ No results. He frowned, leaning into the back of the chair roughly. _Heo Jongup_. A lot of people appeared, but as he scrolled down no one matched him. _Park Himchan_. Same as before, someone that owned a company in the area would at least have had an article with his name on it, he thought to himself.

He reached for the company’s phone at the end of the desk, meaning to call his assistant and ask him to do some research for him since apparently, he was not very good at it. It rang twice before Chansik picked up. “Sir.”

“Please come into my office for a moment,” he said and hung up the phone, gathering the papers in a messy manner and going towards the stairs, seeing his assistant was already waiting for him at the bottom.

Chansik was standing near the door and far from Hongbin’s table, so as he walked from the stair to sit in his chair he motioned that the other should come closer with his fingers. The assistant almost tripped over his own feet as he did so, always very uneasy in the presence of his boss, even more so when he looked that beautiful.

Chansik was not allowed, as was anyone else other than his dad and himself, to look at the contract, but he could do in-depth research and keep his mouth shut if asked to, discretion being part of his job.

Hongbin grabbed the pile of blank post it’s that rested on his table and wrote in is his pretty calligraphy the very same terms he’d googled. “Find all you can about this for me.” he slid the paper block across the table, his assistant reaching for the first page and tearing it from the rest, glancing quickly at the writing before he looked back at his boss again.

“I’ll do my best,” Chansik said sounding confident. “It’ll be on your desk on Monday before they arrive for the meeting.”

“Perfect.” Hongbin nodded once. “Thank you, that will be all.” he turned his eyes back to the contract, starting to read it again.

Chansik bowed and turned back to the directing he came from, closing the big door carefully as he left. Hongbin’s foot was tapping impatiently on the carpet below it, his eyes focused on the paper as if reading the exact same thing again would reveal some new information.

“What is going on,” Hongbin whispered to himself as he turned the pages, fiddling his finger on the edge of the paper as he got lost in thought.

After a while Hongbin realized he had been staring at the same words for so long they’d started to lose their meaning, so he put the contract down and brought his fingers up to squeeze between the inner corner of his eyes. Maybe he was overreacting, making a big deal out of a small thing.

He pushed himself away from the table, walking towards the window. The sun was very high in the clear sky, very few clouds could be seen, a beautiful day. He took a deep breath in and closed his eyes, feeling the sunlight hit his face, comfortably warm. He stayed like that for a while, tipping his head back and enjoying the silence and calm of the moment.  
  
When Hongbin opened his eyes he was faced with his own reflection on the glass of the window, a handsome man in a suit, all that his father ever hoped he would become.

All his life he’d heard that when he was old enough he would take over and continue the work he had started, his destiny, his purpose in life.

The earlier years of Hongbin’s life were the ones he remembered with most fondness, the years he’d lived with his grandparents. When his parents got married they had a mission: take control over the chemical business, and a surprise pregnancy wouldn’t exactly help their plan. When Hongbin’s mother gave birth to him, it became clear she had no interest of slowing down her professional life, so when the boy turned 1 her parents, both already having passed most of their company’s responsibilities to her, took the child in to give him the attention and love he needed. Hongbin was helped by his grandparents as much as he helped them, filling the silence of their big mansion with life and joy only a child could bring. Hongbin went back and forth between his parents and grandparents houses, but would always feel more at home when with the ones that’d raised him.

When Hongbin turned 15 his father asked him to move back to their house permanently, since he was the only heir of the company and needed to start learning how the business worked for when he eventually took over. He didn’t hate his job, but he never had any power of choosing if he would do it or not and sometimes he wondered what would he do if he _did_ have a choice. Would he choose the life he had then?

Hongbin glanced at his watch, knowing he still had a lot to do that day, but dreading the thought of having to read through anything else. He forced himself to return to his chair, but even when sitting and holding a pen in his hand he knew he’d given up on working for the day. Hongbin felt beat from the stress of the week, he needed to loosen up. He grabbed his phone and sighed, knowing he would regret the decision of not finishing his work later when he had to rush to meet his deadlines, dialing the number he knew by heart and waiting for the answer from the other side.

“Hello?” Wonsik's voice came through.

“Hey, can I still get tickets for tonight?”

\--

“Can you see them?” Wonsik had to shout due to the loud music.

“There.” Jongin motioned his head to their location, since raising his arm would be much harder.

Taemin and Koharu were talking and laughing loudly when the boys managed to go up the stairs to reach them, the use of Japanese suggesting they were bad mouthing someone around the area. The second floor was always their choice, since the only bar in the place was on the ground floor and tended to be the most crowded spot.

“Thank you for your service,” Taemin said grabbing one of the bottles from Wonsik’s hand, pouting his lips in a way that if the place was quieter, he would have been able to hear the kissy sound.

“Don’t thank me, next round you’re going,” Wonsik said, opening the other bottle he had in his hand and passing it to Koharu.

“Who were you talking shit about?” Jongin asked, leaning on the wall next to Wonsik.

“This asshole tried to make a move on me and told me to send my ‘gay bodyguard’” she made air quotes with one hand, using the break to take a sip from her bottle, “for a walk so we could have some privacy, can you believe it.” Her accent got stronger in the last sentence, where she clearly was more worried about showing emotion than paying attention to proper pronunciation.

“Classy.” Wonsik turned his eyes. “What did you say?”

“That I needed my cute gay bodyguard to cleanse my eyes after having to look at his face during our conversation.” She ran her free hand through her hair, smiling through her red-stained lips.

“My hero,” Jongin said smiling at her as he pulled the end of his boyfriend’s jeans jacket so he could come closer to him. 

The conversation between them continued naturally for the next few minutes, Koharu teaching the others how to call the guy that had offended Taemin a lot of names in japanese.

“Hongbin sure attracts attention,” Taemin said when the laughing stopped, pointing over to the ground floor where he’d spotted their friend arriving. The whole group turned to see where the blonde was pointing to, starting to laugh when they noticed he was right, all eyes were on Hongbin.

Hongbin was wearing a silk beige long-sleeved shirt that had some geometric navy detailing all over it, complemented by a burgundy turtleneck that was peeking under his collar and a coat in the same color that was over his shoulders. The black-haired was darting his eyes around looking for his friends, seemingly unaware of the amount of both men and women that had turned their heads to stare at him.

It was useless trying to call for anyone in such a noisy place, so Wonsik volunteered to go down the ground floor to meet Hongbin and bring him up.

“You came!” Wonsik said when he came face to face to his friend. Hongbin smiled widely, both dimples showing.

“Where is everyone?”

“Upstairs, let’s buy you something to drink and we’ll go,” Wonsik said slowly, enunciating the words so his friend could read them on his lips and he nodded in agreement.

When they arrived on the second floor, Hongbin almost dropped his red-colored drink when Jongin, already a bit tipsy, threw his hand around his shoulders and pulled him in for a tight hug. Hongbin laughed against the hair over his face, wrapping his arms around his waist.

“I missed your pretty face,” Jongin said once they parted and Hongbin smiled, handing him a beer so he could use the hand to keep the coat from falling from his shoulders.

“Jesus, let me talk to him too.” Hongbin recognized Taemin’s voice from behind him and laughed.

“Don’t fight over me, I’ll be here the whole night,” he said as he threw one of his hands around his shorter friend, standing by his side as they walked towards where the one he recognized from pictures as Koharu was waiting.

Her short hair was falling in her eyes since she was looking at her phone, her plump lips covered by a crimson red lipstick, which made that the first thing you would notice about her. The flowy green shirt that came down to her ankles accentuated her height, even if she was wearing sneakers, the tight top complimenting her figure. Gorgeous, even more so than Hongbin had thought.

“Hi.” She welcomed him with a smile, her accent noticeable even from the first word. “I’m Koharu, you must be Hongbin.”

“Yes, I am, hi.” He curved lightly since he still had his arm around Taemin’s shoulders, the lack of intimacy noticeable in the act. “Nice to meet you. They’ve been talking about me?” He pressed his cold drink against Taemin’s neck, making him push away from him whilst saying not the nicest words.

“Only good things.” Wonsik said with a forced grin, heavy irony in his tone.

“Yeah, knowing you, I bet.” 

When the main artist of the night stepped on stage, even far as they were, talking became harder from all the noise and screams that took the place. They moved to a place further from the stairs where they could still see the stage but dance more freely as they watched, exchanging comments in between songs when it would be quieter. The gig lasted about an hour and they all found themselves sucked into it, feeling the energy of the place and the lyrics take their bodies.

Wonsik was standing between Taemin and Jongin when the loud DJ music returned, one hand around each waist as he found himself already too dizzy to stand unsupported. The men started to laugh when Wonsik decided that was the perfect spot, whilst having a death grip on both their shirts, to start dancing to the electronic beat.

Hongbin watched from a distance as the trio did their weird tango-inspired waltz, laughing more than actually moving. When he took a hold of his slightly drunk self, he was talking to Koharu up close, very close.

“What?” Hongbin asked when the woman asked him something and he couldn’t hear, her face flushed from the alcohol and dancing.

“I asked you what did you think of the show.” Koharu’s voice was suddenly very close to his ear, her body pressed into his. Hongbin realized he was the one that had pulled her, his hand resting on the curve of her waist.

Hongbin wasn’t the type that made the first move, but apparently tipsy Hongbin was, he realized as he slid his hand on Koharu’s back. “I liked it.” he said feeling the scent of her sweet perfume pleasant to his senses, her arms around him increasing the closeness. She was so beautiful, he wanted to kiss her, his head was fuzzy and everything around him was very loud, but he knew that much.

He moved his mouth back from her near her ear, Koharu’s face stood now so close to his own their lips were almost touching, their breathing mixing in the small space that separated them. When her eyes fluttered shut he took it as a cue to end the space between them, but before he could lean in a loud cracking noise startled them both, who looked sideways to see what had originated it.

On the ground were Taemin and Wonsik, surrounded by what they assumed were broken bottles and beer, hugging and laughing as if sitting on broken shards was the best thing that had happened to them that week. Hongbin and Koharu separated immediately, as if the sudden worry for their stupid friends had been capable of sobering them up, and pushed through a kissing couple to get close to Jongin, who was crouching trying to get them to stop moving.

“Are you okay?” Hongbin said looking at the ones that were on the floor. Taemin, who was under Wonsik, raised a thumbs up. “What happened?” 

Wonsik raised both his arms in Hongbin’s direction as if he wanted to be picked up, the black-haired turned his eyes, but slid his arms under his best friend’s armpits, as one would do to lift a baby, and helped him to his feet. Once Wonsik was off Taemin, Jongin and Koharu grabbed him by his arm one each and he got up with not many difficulties, but they kept holding him just in case.

“Taemin wanted to prove to me that now he’s working out he can lift me princess style,” Wonsik said, voice slightly slurred, leaning into Hongbin as if he was asking for a hug. He was not wasted, but had gone through enough beer bottles to make him go very past the happy drunk phase.

“You’re both idiots,” Koharu said laughing as she examined Taemin’s hands for cuts, since the jeans jacket had protected his arms and torso. “You’re good, not hurt, just stupid.” 

“And you?” Jongin asked looking at Wonsik, smiling at the sight of him pulling Hongbin in for a hug by his waist and he trying to push him back, but not very hard, as he was scared Wonsik would fall again.

“I can’t feel anything.” Jongin wasn’t sure if he meant pain or that the alcohol had numbed him, he hoped for the first.

“We should get going anyway, it’s late.” Hongbin said still fighting Wonsik’s hands as the others laughed. They all nodded in agreement, starting to say their goodbyes, since Wonsik would go back with Hongbin and the rest would be going on a separate taxi.

Wonsik stepped away from his best friend and walked to the trio in front of him, Taemin still supported by Koharu and Jongin, and threw his arms and weight on his friend’s shoulders, repeating how much he _truly_ loved them and only satisfied when they had said it back at least 10 times, giving him little pats in his back and butt.

“Have a nice flight home tomorrow,” Hongbin said when he hugged Koharu goodbye, feeling her hands go around his waist.

“Hope I get to see you when I’m back in Seoul.” She pulled back enough that they could look at each other but still stood close, then winked and smiled at him. Hongbin cussed at Wonsik and Taemin in his head.

Hongbin’s head was already clearing when he and Wonsik stepped out of the club into the cold air of the street, putting his thick coat on and pulling his friend’s arm to get on a taxi that was waiting nearby. Hongbin eventually caved into Wonsik’s persistent drunk attempts of showing affection, letting him lean into his chest him once they were inside the car, throwing one of his hand around his shoulder as he used the other to scroll through his phone. The driver glared at them through the rearview mirror and Hongbin just gave him Wonsik’s home address without looking up from the screen or caring about his obvious discrimination.

“Were you flirting with Ru?” Wonsik asked loudly as if they were still in the club, looking up through his bright red fringe to stare at his friend, startling the driver and making him look from the mirror back to the street.

“Almost kissed her,” Hongbin responded in a lower tone, still checking his emails, his friend made an exaggerated gasp. “You and Taeminie just had your movie moment before I could.”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled sounding remorseful, eyes round and innocent looking as he stared up. Hongbin smiled, patting his friend’s shoulder.

“It’s fine. I’m going to Tokyo next month maybe I’ll give her a call.”

“Yeah, right.” Wonsik snorted, he knew Hongbin enough to say that was not going to happen.

“Ok, you’re making me hot, seriously.” Hongbin pinched the skin on his friend’s shoulder through his clothes and could feel his arms loosening around him, protesting something on the grounds of how he was going to die someday and Hongbin wouldn’t have his hugs anymore.

The red-haired settled on leaning on his friend’s shoulders instead of embracing him, which worked great for the both of them, since Hongbin was going through his phone and Wonsik was still so drunk he almost immediately started to nap. Once they reached Wonsik’s building, Hongbin paid the taxi driver and shook his friend’s shoulder, who woke up complaining but stepped out of the car without resisting, stumbling on his feet.

Hongbin stayed one step behind the red-haired all the way from the entrance of the building to the apartment door, ready to catch Wonsik if he tripped. Once Wonsik managed to open the door to his studio apartment he shook his shoes off and turned directly to the bed on his right, going face first to lie down when he felt something pulling on his cardigan. He whined, not understanding why gravity had failed him that particular night, not wrapping his head around the fact that Hongbin was holding him back.

“Don’t be disgusting, you’re covered in beer.” Hongbin pulled him harder, who stumbled two steps back from his bed and almost fell on his butt next to his friend. “Take a shower.” 

“You’re worse than my dad, I hate you,” he said already stripping his cardigan and throwing it in the middle of the room, between the ‘living room’ carpet and his bed. He felt very upset by the fact that he couldn’t just go to sleep immediately, wondering in his drunk mind why his friend was such a control freak.

“Yeah, I’m the worst, now go.” He pushed his brother into the bathroom and closed the door, smiling at the fact that he could still hear Wonsik bad mouthing him through the thin walls of the place.

Wonsik’s studio apartment was small but cozy, every corner had a touch of his personality in it, from the purple lighting to the yellow bookshelf that was his first impulse buy to the place. The apartment had been a present from Mr. and Mrs. Lim when the boy turned 21, which he resisted and said it was too much, but eventually accepted it, since then working on filling it with things that made it feel like home.

Hongbin opened the wardrobe and looked at the untidied shelves, planning a strategy so he could scavenge through the unfolded piled clothing to find sweatpants and underwear for his friend without having everything fall on his head, also grabbing some oversized comfortable clothing he could borrow for himself after he showered.

He knocked twice on the bathroom door and entered, feeling the warmth of the shower steam first thing once he did. “There are clothes for you on the sink.” Hongbin said as he placed the clothing on the sink counter and left, moving on to set the couch where he would sleep.

Wonsik’s apartment, as usual, was a mess. Clothes were thrown on his unmade bed, there were opened studying books on his computer desk and the groceries he’d bought earlier hadn’t been put into the pantry, still sitting on the kitchen counter. Hongbin has always been extremely organized and felt at a loss on how someone could handle to live in such a chaotic environment.

It didn’t take long for Wonsik to come out of the bathroom, he’d always been fast showering. His face was flushed from the hot water, red hair still wet and not combed through, wearing the sweatpants Hongbin had gotten him and a towel around his shoulders, leaving most of his body exposed.

Hongbin got up from the couch, holding a dry towel and a few of what Wonsik noticed, were his clothes, and went past his friend into the bathroom to clean himself.

Wonsik’s head was still fuzzy and he still felt lightheaded, but his hunger had returned, sign that he was starting to sober up. He stumbled to the kitchen and switched the kettle on, opening one of the plastic bags he’d left on the counter and grabbing some ramen to cook. When he reached up to grab two bowls on the cupboard, he almost dropped the other ones that were below it, managing not to by pushing them hard inside with a loud noise.

“ _Sh,_ ” he scolded the ceramic bowls still in the cupboard, placing the ones on his hands, what he thought was carefully and silently, on the space next to the stove.

He stared at the kettle as he got lost in his own thoughts, suddenly going through some math equations he’d failed to solve earlier in his head and finding where he’d gone wrong. _I dropped the negative sign in the second operation, rookie mistake._

“I’m an idiot,” he said and accidentally startled himself, looking around before he noticed he was the one that had spoken, starting to laugh after he realized how true his statement had been.

By the time the noodles were ready Hongbin stepped out of the bathroom, holding his neatly folded clothes in his hand and wearing one of Wonsik’s old hoodies and shorts, having already brushed and mostly towel-dried his hair. He put down his clothes on the study desk and went to the kitchen, his stomach growling at the smell of food.

“Thanks, I’m so hungry,” Hongbin said taking one of the bowls from near the stove to the wall-mounted table, sitting on the high stool and starting to eat in a rush.

Wonsik walked to the table and put his bowl next to Hongbin’s, choosing to stand rather than sit down. His friend glanced at him, scanning him from his feet to his still droopy eyes and messy wet hair, but made no comment on his odd choice.

“Your roots are showing,” Hongbin said with his mouth full, pointing his chopsticks at his friend’s hair.

“I know. I’ll bleach it sometime this week, I’m just lazy,” he said bringing the bowl to his lips to drink the soup. “You should try to change yours someday, something like blonde would suit you. Or purple.” He looked at his friend and smiled, trying to picture what a purple haired Hongbin would look like. Seemed like an impossible picture.

“Dad would kill me, say that I’m unprofessional and irresponsible,” he mumbled and shrugged his shoulders, stuffing his face right after.

Wonsik felt suddenly annoyed. “He treats you like you’re his possession already, Hongbin, how is it fair that he gets control even over your hair?” His friend gave him a surprised look and Wonsik immediately regretted the way he’d put it, but the alcohol had pushed out what he’d swallowed back many times before, speaking before he could filter any of his words.

Wonsik would never verbalize what he thought Joohyuk did right or wrong about his son upbringing, since he didn’t want to intrude and Hongbin himself wouldn’t allow himself to comment much. However, Wonsik didn’t need Hongbin to tell him anything, they knew each other since they were kids, he saw how humiliated and trapped his friend felt and the fact that he couldn’t do anything to help was unsettling.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” Wonsik’s chopsticks were hovering mid-air, anticipating his friend’s reaction.

The response came after a few seconds, the surprised expression replaced by a fake smile. “Didn’t know you think my hair is that ugly.” 

“Well, at least it matches your ugly face.” He joked and Hongbin smiled sincerely, making Wonsik relax.

A silence followed, which Hongbin took it as a cue to get up, put his bowl on the sink and go into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Wonsik put his own bowl on the sink and walked to the wardrobe, opening and choosing a shirt in the front so he wouldn’t have to pull anything from the back, but karate chopping them to show dominance just in case.

When Wonsik left the bathroom after Hongbin, he saw his friend already lying on the couch, snuggling on his pillow.

“Are you sure you don’t want to sleep on the bed?” Wonsik asked, lying sideways on the comfortable mattress so he could face Hongbin.

“I think you’ve cuddled me enough for the day, Sik,” he said with his eyes already closed, hinting that he wanted the conversation to be over.

“I feel sorry for your soulmate,” Wonsik said pulling the covers up so only his head was showing.

“Good thing I don’t ever want to find it, then.”  _It._

“In-love Hongbin will like back hugs and giving jewelry on anniversaries.” Hongbin snorted and opened his eyes, watching his smiling friend.

“You’re clearly still drunk, go to sleep.” He hit the light switch that was on top of the couch, sending them both into darkness.

“Night,” he said still laughing and the black-haired hummed in return.

Hongbin was smiling too when the lights went off, but that didn’t change the fact that the moment he was alone with his thoughts, the only thing he could think of was how true Wonsik’s drunken words had been earlier. Most of the time his father treated him like a possession than a human being, his son. He shoved his face into the pillow, trying to avoid thinking about it as he waited for sleep to take over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hongbin is a bitch, i know  
> here is our 6vixx, let's get the plot goinggg


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thought i would give an extra warning, even if it's already in the general tags, but this has explicit descriptions of violence and murder... so keep that in mind if you're going to read ok. enjoyyy

8:17. Chansik was pacing from one side of the empty room to the other, each time he would cross his desk he would lock his eyes at the thin file on top of it. He shook his head as he thought about what would he say and how he was going to say it when his boss arrived, but no excuse seemed good enough. His lips were dry from mouthing so many words to himself, breathing getting progressively quicker as time passed. Chansik’s eyes trailed over the clock again and he closed them quickly when he read the minute hand, as if he’d gotten scared at what he saw. 8:21.

“He’s gonna kill me,” he whispered to himself, voice cracking in the empty room. “No. He’s gonna fire me then my dad is going to kill me.” He stopped walking and pressed his back to the wall, his palms spread open over the wallpaper.

8:25 and the boy was about to start hyperventilating, eyes wide and glued to the elevator doors as if they would open to reveal satan himself. He stood still like that as the minutes passed, watching the closed steel doors as he got lost in his own thoughts. _Maybe I can hide in the bathroom and call in sick for work, just leave the file on the desk, fleed the crime scene and wait for my termination letter at home._ 8:28.

 _Don’t be ridiculous, Chansik. I should actually leave the building then call in sick for work._ 8:29. He stepped away from the wall and stood by his desk, avoiding to look at the papers on top of it as if they had Medusa killing powers.

Chansik looked at the clock, 8:30, and took a deep breath. “That’s it.” 

The doors opened and he held his breath in, trying with all of his might to not pass out at that instant. Hongbin had arrived at his usual time, holding his usual order of coffee in his hand and displaying his usual scary morning expression, Chansik heart skipped a beat each time his boss would take a step closer to him.

“Good morning, sir.” He found himself saying out of habit, his muscle memory seemingly trying to save him from getting into even more trouble. Chansik was pale as a sheet of paper, but since he was always like that when in the presence of his boss, Hongbin didn’t seem to notice anything different with his assistant.

Hongbin did notice how Chansik was standing next to his desk instead of behind it, but made no comment on it, nodding his head in response to his assistant’s greeting as he went into the office. He took his white coat off and hung it next to the door, walking to the mirror so he could check his outfit before sitting down on his desk to start looking through the endless piles of paper. Hongbin had decided to go with some green tailored pants and an oversized designer buttoned up shirt, since it was Monday and comfort was the only thing he cared about, the ¾ sleeve giving a more casual look without actually making him look sloppy.

Hongbin stared at his own reflection, bringing the cup to his lips and sipping the hot coffee, checking for anything about his hair or face that could make his dad complain, since the lack of suit would already cause a fuss anyway. Eventually he turned back to look at his desk, taking a deep sigh as he decided to start on the day, he had a lot to sort out since the Denmark deal had gone wrong because of some stupid unprofessional employee of his and he had to fix that on top of the TS representatives that were coming to meet him and check changes on the contract in half an hour.

He remembered the meeting and looked through his desk, lifting his iPad and other things that might be hiding the papers, but found nothing. “Chansik.” he said loudly enough to be heard outside, choosing that over calling him on the phone.

The boy walked in after a short few seconds, stopping right in front of his boss’ desk as he held a thin plastic covered file flush to his chest, hugging it tightly. Hongbin saw it first thing when his assistant walked in, eyes trailing over it as he waited to be handed it. It didn't happen.

Hongbin chuckled and put his hand in the air between the two, palm facing up. “Can I have that, or…” 

They were both the same age, but it was surprising how different they would present themselves. After all, Chansik was a shy sweet university student and Hongbin was a powerful heir of a multi-billionaire company, that’s enough difference in life expectations in itself to cause the divergence.

“O-of course, I’m sorry.” He placed the papers on Hongbin’s hands, who took it and opened immediately.

Hongbin saw there were only three pages, two filled front and back and the other only the front, he quirked his eyebrow.

“Is this all you could find?” Hongbin looked up from the papers back at his assistant and tipped his head slightly to the side, staring deep into his eyes. “In the two whole days I gave you?” that made Chansik’s knees weak, if he tried to move he thought he would certainly fall to the floor.

“Yes.” Chansik tried to shift his eyes from Hongbin’s, but there was something that trapped him there, a fly in a spider web. “I looked _everywhere._ I was very thorough, sir.” He tried to keep his voice firm, but Hongbin cared more about how his tone sounded sincere rather than the words coming out from his mouth. He lowered his eyes to the paper again and started to read it as Chansik continued to speak. “The company, TS, I couldn’t find anything online about it, so I called the city council to see who could give me the information on its registration.”

“Probably the Small and Medium Business Administration division from Daejeon,” Hongbin mumbled casually, grabbing his coffee to sip again, eyes still focused on the paper.

_ TS Incorporated is a chemical cleaning company, specialized blending and making custom-made products to suit the client’s needs. _

“That’s what I thought, so I called a friend that works there, but the administration changed, that’s why I could find anything online, they’re still settling up after it.”

Hongbin hummed in agreement as if some things clicked in his head too.

“I didn’t know because Jellyfish falls under the big companies category, so we answer directly to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.” He felt himself starting to ramble, so pulled his thoughts back to track. “Anyway, who manages the new registries now is a division called Ministry of SME’s and Startups, any small or starting company registered from the last 6 months and forward will respond to them.”

Hongbin stopped reading and looked up immediately, catching Chansik’s stare. “TS is only 6 months old?”

“4 months,” he corrected his boss, stepping forward so he could try and read the writing upside down, pointing at the part that had that information once he found it. “That’s why I couldn’t find much.”

Hongbin’s bad feeling from Friday came back as soon as his assistant finished talking, even the plain black coffee inside his cup seeming a lot to stomach. _How did they even made that much money in four months? They are not on Jellyfish's level._

“That’s not possible, didn’t they go under another name before?”

“No.” Chansik was certain of that information, since he’d made that observation himself when doing his research. “They have no links to any pre-existing company or chain. They paid all the opening taxes and everything, they are brand new,” he said, watching Hongbin scratch his forehead with a confused expression.

Hongbin tapped his index finger on the glass table, reading through some more.

_ TS Incorporated is the juridical person or firm under the authority of Heo Jongup (26) and Park Himchan (28), the current finance head is Chae Daehyun (29). _

“And on the names?” Hongbin said turning the page, there was only half of it written, Chansik felt himself getting nervous, thinking now he would have to get screamed at for doing a poor job.

He swallowed loudly, forcing the words out of his dry lips. “There is so much paperwork that goes into opening a company… bank financing, proving income, lacking a criminal record, registering the company name under yours, you have to show the government a lot,” Hongbin leaned into the chair, looking at Chansik as he made his point, noting for the first time how much paler than usual he was. “but I couldn’t find much, it was like- like they had just started their life here? No public employment record, new bank accounts.”

Hongbin tried to reason the information he’d been given but once again he failed, nothing seemed to fit in. _Weird, everything is so weird._ He bit his lip and sighed loudly. “Ok.” He nodded. “Ok.”

“I’m so sorry,” Chansik said, moving nervously. “I know you gave me 2 days, but truly this is all I could find.” Hongbin looked at him, eyes blinking rapidly, the normally pink lips pale, pressing both of his hands together. He felt bad when he realized that was nervousness.

“No, it’s fine, you did well,” Hongbin said with a casual tone and Chansik had to almost physically hold his jaw from falling open. “There is only so much you can do.” Hongbin had never actually screamed at him, but that didn’t stop Chansik from fearing him the way he did, having heard some really rude things from his boss before.

“O-ok. Is that all, sir?” 

“Yes. Thank you, Chansik.” The assistant bowed and turned to the door, thanking every god that he could think of as he almost sprinted out of the office.

It was something Chansik had heard when he was applying for the assistant-of-the-CEO’s-son job, it would be a very good learning opportunity and it would look good on his resumé, but he would have to endure a lot of pressure. People were more scared of what Hongbin was rumored to do than what he actually did, in the 3 months that Chansik had been there he’d never even heard he raising his voice to anyone, but he had however seen a lot of people leaving his office in tears.

Hongbin glanced at the papers again as he thought of possible reasons that could explain why everything around this deal so strange. “Maybe they’re immigrants, just starting life over here,” he mumbled, his index finger drawing circles around the rim of his coffee cup slowly, “that would explain a lot.” He stopped for a moment, interrupted by other thought. “They speak so well, though, they seem like natives.”

His finger dropped from the rim to hold the coffee cup in both hands, no intention to drink it anymore, just feeling the nice warmth between his palms. He placed the papers on the drawer and picked up the new version of the contract he and the TS representatives would be working on at the meeting. He’d gone working out with a hungover and protesting Wonsik when they woke up on Saturday then went back home to work, staying up the entire night so he could finish altering everything for that early Monday meeting and could afford to sleep in until late on Sunday. Hongbin could be considered rude, an idiot or a brat by a lot of people, but no one could deny he worked hard.

He glanced at his watch when he heard a noise outside of his office, 8:50 am, his dad had probably arrived. There were two knocks on the door. “Come in.”

He saw the pink sleeves that were covering Chansik’s hands holding the door open, the boy’s head peeking behind it after. “Mr. Jongup and Himchan, sir.”

“Oh?” Hongbin had been caught off guard by them arriving earlier than his father. He thought for a moment about being alone with the two, making conversation until his father turned up, dreading the idea. However, he could not leave them waiting outside, that would turn awkward really fast when his father came and crossed them on the hall. “Fine, let them in,” he said after a short sigh, ignoring his turning stomach and standing up from his chair.

Chansik nodded and his head disappeared for a moment. “He’s ready to see you.” He could hear the assistant’s voice through the open door.

Same as last time, Jongup came in first, opening a big grin once he saw Hongbin, walking towards him in a characteristic confident manner, steps firm and pronounced by his heeled beige boots. His straight cat eyes were once again the first thing Hongbin saw, even more swiftly since the heel brought them to a more even height. Hongbin thought there was an overwhelming quality about Jongup, the way he moved was too smooth, reminded him of a panther stalking its prey, stealthy and unpredictable. And he definitely didn’t like the intimidating looks.

“Glad to have you two back,” Hongbin lied naturally, raising his arm to shake Jongup’s cold hand.

“Glad to see you again, Hongbin.” There was something about the way Jongup pronounced his name that he didn’t like, the way the word slid out of his mouth through that big smile made it sound unusual, wrong.

Hongbin pulled his hand back first, glancing at the door when he saw Himchan coming through. “Hongbin!” Himchan said in his deep voice as he took large steps to meet the boy and shake his hand, touch very warm compared to his partner.

Hongbin was noticing upon meeting the men again that Himchan was similar in a way to Jongup, but still somehow totally different. He had that confident energy the blonde also emanated, maybe due to their shared beauty, but he lacked the predator trait in the way that he communicated, less fluid and glossy, more human.

“I’m very sorry, my dad got caught up in something and it’s not here yet,” Hongbin said in a formal tone to the duo in front of him, feeling the weight of being the youngest in the room. “We shouldn’t start without him, so do you mind waiting here?” he motioned to the sofa area, where they could sit more comfortably.

“Of course,” Himchan said in a friendly manner, walking to the area first and sitting on the couch he thought looked more comfortable. As he took his black and white jacket off and threw it on the back of the couch, Hongbin almost laughed at how fast he seemed to have made himself at home, looking as relaxed as not worried with many formalities.

Jongup waited for Hongbin to lead the way, walking behind him from a comfortable distance. As Hongbin’s eyes trailed casually around the room, he happened to look on the big mirror in the opposite wall, catching the reflection of the blonde scanning his back-view from top to bottom, almost going into a coughing fit when he thought he’d seen the man biting his bottom lip. He moved faster without even noticing it, taking the seat opposite to Himchan and seeing Jongup sitting gracefully next to his partner, a small distance separating the two.

Hongbin cleared his throat, filing what he’d seen in the ‘think about what this means later’ document in his head. “I could offer you whisky, but it’s very early,” he tried for a joke, relieved when the men in front of him smiled. “so would you like some coffee?”

“I’m fine, thank you,” Himchan said leaning into the side of the couch and crossing his legs, pulling the fabric of his black pants up so it wouldn’t stretch on his knee.

“So, how long have you been partners for?” Hongbin attempted a conversation starter, trying to avoid any awkward silences.

“About 2 years,” Himchan said after exchanging a glance with Jongup, who eyed him as he spoke. “We already knew we worked well together, so when Jongup gave the idea for the business, I wanted to be a part of it too.” Jongup nodded.

“Even before we got marked, Himchan was always around me,” Jongup said casually, still sitting up straight with his legs crossed in contrast to the one beside him, leaning relaxed on the side of the couch.

“Oh, you’re soulmates?” Hongbin said in a surprised tone, not having noticed before. The memory of Jongup biting his lip came back to mind and he changed it to something else as fast as he could, hoping the flush couldn’t be seen on his cheeks.

“Platonic,” Jongup said and Hongbin thought he saw Himchan holding back a laugh.

Unexpectedly, Himchan pulled up the sleeve of his shirt and held out his arm, his right wrist facing Hongbin. There was what Hongbin assumed to be their mark, getting confirmation when he saw there were details in it that were gold, no tattoo ink could emulate gold like a soulmate mark could. The mark started from the base of his right wrist up to half of his forearm and Hongbin didn’t need more than a second to see it was a castle, the lines that gave it shape black and sleek, accentuated by the shading that complemented every part of it, making shadows a very present element in the mark. The drawing itself was very long rather than wide, it wasn’t a small castle, it was big, tall and towered, the gothic architecture giving it a powerful and elegant feel. The whole castle was drawn in black, making the golden sun that was setting behind it stand out even more, the gold shading giving it a unique look. Hongbin thought it was a stunning mark, it definitely matched Himchan’s style and since platonic soulmates didn’t have identical marks, if Jongup’s mark was similar to his soulmate’s in any way it would match him perfectly too.

“His has a purple moon instead of my sun, but the castle is the same,” Himchan said like he was listening to the boy’s thoughts, covering his wrist with his shirt again and Hongbin realized he had been staring, his curiosity taking over the moment he saw the beautiful mark.

When he looked at their face again he felt embarrassed, but said the first thing he could think of so they wouldn’t notice. “Brave of you, they say mixing work and mark can ruin one of the two.” Hongbin pointed out the famous saying.

Jongup tipped his head, the neutral expression seemed odd when paired with such an intense stare, Hongbin was starting to understand what that look meant, but he shoved it into the ‘think about what this means later’ file before the damn flush tainted his face again.

“I think only death can free me from Jongup,” Himchan said in a sarcastic tone and the blonde smirked, turning his head to face his soulmate.

“He thinks it’ll be that easy…” he said still facing Himchan. “I’ll follow you to hell, Chan.” Himchan turned his eyes and looked at Hongbin again.

“As you see we get along well.” Hongbin nodded, forcing a smile as to make the situation less awkward.

It wasn’t just the fact that he obviously didn’t like the vibe the two gave him, but Hongbin thought the soulmate system was ridiculous and he avoided talking about it, even more so with strangers. He believed the system made people afraid of love, creating the idea that the only way a friendship or relationship would work is if it’s with the one you share a mark with, that seemed absurd to him. Many people went through their entire lives depriving themselves and sabotaging their relationships before they even had a chance to work because they were waiting for the day they would touch a stranger’s skin and their marks would appear, even knowing that there was a chance of your paths never crossing. It made everyone take their soulmates for granted also, since people thought if the universe had said you’re perfect for each other, there is no need to worry about losing them. Wrong, he believed in building friendship, building trust and most importantly, building love.

“Have you found yours yet?” Himchan asked and it was clear how uncomfortable Hongbin became, but to his surprise, they didn’t seem to care.

“No.” His answer was short, posture straight but expression relaxed, almost cheerful. Hongbin didn’t let himself be intimidated easily, since he had come to terms with the fact that most things in the business world boiled down to a game of power and dominance. He never lost.

Jongup seemed amused by his reaction, holding back a smile, but choosing to change the subject. “Everything ok with what we asked to change in the deal?”

“Yes, I took care of it, made a few calls to double check with the delivery department and it’s all going well.”

At that moment they heard Hongbin’s office door opening with no warning and knowing his father would be the only one to do so, he knew he’d arrived. Himchan and Jongup stood up from the couch to welcome the smiling man, Hongbin showing a delay in his action.

Hongbin crossed both his hands in front of his body as he watched the fake-looking interaction happen in front of him. “I’m sorry for my delay, I had to sign a few things and it took longer than expected,” Joohyuk said as he shook their hands, still smiling wide.

“It’s okay, your son made us company,” Himchan said and Joohyuk glanced to Hongbin, the act changing to a piercing glare once he saw what he was wearing, scanning him from his feet until their eyes met. Hongbin maintained his neutral expression, nodding in response to Himchan as if he hadn’t noticed his father look.

“Can’t we just continue here?” Jongup motioned to the area they were sitting before, as opposed to the other option of going to the meeting room on the second floor.

“Oh, absolutely.” Joohyuk quit trying to reprehend his son when he took it nonchalantly and moved to the couch.

Hongbin went the opposite direction to grab the contract they would go over, not seeming able to distract himself from what his assistant had told him earlier. When he moved back to the couch it was like he was living a separate moment from the rest of the men there, they all seemed to be of the same mind about everything being spoken, Hongbin just felt left out of it.

Mid-meeting Hongbin just gave up trying to blend in and act as if that was a normal meeting for him, it felt exhausting having to pretend to like them like his father genuinely seemed to be fond of the pair. They gave him a bad vibe, they had a suspicious background and made him feel very uncomfortable by just being in the same room. Hongbin chose to remain quiet and volunteered to make the notes that were going to be altered in the contract for the next meeting, allowing him to be silent most of the time, alone with the feeling in his gut that just kept screaming _this is not going to end well_ at his head over and over like a broken cd.

\--

“You have a memory of a fish, do you know that?” Taekwoon said double checking how many bullets there were in his gun’s magazine, sliding it back with a click once he saw it was fully loaded.

“Don’t be a bitch, go on.” Jaehwan waved his knife in front of his partner in a circular motion, as if he was saying Taekwoon should stop provoking him and keep talking, the older didn’t even flinch at the sign of the sharp object so close to his face, just following it with his eyes.

Jaehwan shifted the sharp point down and pulled gently on the fabric of his shirt, holding it up as he slid his hands to his back, finding the leather sheath that was attached to his belt and placing the knife in, making sure the blade couldn’t hurt him as he moved. The cold air of the night hit his back and made the hairs on his neck stand up, so he grabbed his gun that was in the concealed holster on his waist and covered himself again.

“There are two guarding outside, you take out these two first _quietly,_ ” Taekwoon started to repeat the plan once again, staring at his friend close so he would pay attention. “We go in, we keep a low profile because if she knows we are there beforehand she might try something funny, if that happens we just scare her a bit. There are three of hers inside and we don’t really care about the ones she’s dealing with, so they can go if they don’t come at us. Following me so far, Dori?” His expression was of pure amusement staring back at Jaehwan.

The younger was thinking about the possibility of grabbing the black-haired choker and squeeze his neck with it. He didn’t. “Keep messing with the one that’s good with a knife, I beg you.” he glared at Taekwoon in reflex, the older didn’t seem affected by the threat, almost laughing after he’d heard it.

After Jaehwan was reminded of the plan, he put his gun’s safety on and placed it back on the holster that was around his torso underneath his shirt, reaching towards his belt to grab his knife again.

“We work our way until we get to her, you do the talking.” Jaehwan snorted, as if that part was obvious. “If she cooperates she walks, if she doesn’t we take her out and let one of hers go to deliver the message.” Taekwoon leaned on the wall, impatient due to the cold wind that was hitting his face. “Got it?”

Jaehwan shook his head enthusiastically. “Yes, yes, ok, let’s go I’m freezing my butt here,” he said rubbing his fingers around the detail on the knife’s handle.

Taekwoon brought his gun next to his body and started to walk silently, the breeze cold but calming. He would get nervous in the past when going into the field, always scared he would mess something up and get himself killed, but since he’d been paired with someone that matched his abilities level and he’d learned to trust, Taekwoon didn’t feel that way anymore. Jaehwan completed him somehow, they had a good dynamic and what one might feel lacking the other had confidence in.

The way Taekwoon made his name on the field was by making everyone associate him with his gun, his best feature. With time, even the thought of Leo holding a gun installed the fear factor to his opponents, often weighing things to his side. His agility, reflexes and rapid thinking made him a fantastic shooter even under pressure, he never missed. He wasn’t bad with physical fighting, he could kick anyone’s ass, but that part was truly when Jaehwan shined.

Having grown up on the streets after he ran away from home, Jaehwan had been taught to street fight since he was 16 by the ones that took him in, which made that his best feature. He was quick on his feet, knew how to take a beating and wasn’t scared to face anyone, even if they were twice his size. Same as Taekwoon, Ken had a strong reputation that favored him when in the field, which was his agility with knives. He’d preferred fighting with a knife pretty much from the first day he ever held one, since having a sharp blade on your hands could be useful to turn things in your favor.

Leo and Ken were the perfect duo, match made in heaven, both skilled and always delivered. Since they had been paired up their reputation only grew, people respected them, feared them.

“Are you ready?” Jaehwan asked in a low voice when they reached the end of the alley, the entrance of the abandoned building where their targets were standing just on the other side.

“Don’t show off,” Taekwoon murmured, removing his gun’s safety.

Jaehwan nodded, taking a deep breath and stepping out of the shadows of the alley into the light of the empty street, strolling so casually whilst looking at his phone that no one could suspect that on the hand that was behind his back there was a knife. Jaehwan crossed the street after looking at both sides, even though there were no cars, turning his attention back to his phone when he reached the sidewalk that led to the abandoned building. His face was relaxed reflecting how he felt, he was confident in his abilities and had Jung Leo, of all skilled assassins, behind him as support.

When Jaehwan started to get close to the first two targets, Taekwoon raised his gun from the shadows, the metal reflecting the dim moonlight, and aimed at one of the guy’s head. His hand was steady and he was ready to fire if he had to. The cold that was bothering Taekwoon minutes before was long gone, replaced by the warmth that the rush of adrenaline gave him. On the other side, Jaehwan continued to walk towards the entrance, looking like someone just passing by, laughing at nonexisting texts.

“Hey,” one of the men, the taller, spoke to Jaehwan as he was approaching the entrance. _Fuck,_ he stopped walking and looked up from his phone, bringing the knife even closer to his body to conceal it. Taekwoon’s hand squeezed the grip of the gun tighter, listening to the distant voices as he waited for his partner’s reaction.

The two men took a step closer to Jaehwan, he didn’t even flinch. The brown-haired analyzed if he should just attack them and get it over with. “Do I know you?” Jaehwan said in a mocking tone, voice firm and eyebrow raised.

The guy looked at Jaehwan, irritated by his confidence. “He has a temper.” one of the men laughed and took another step closer to Jaehwan. Once again he was unbothered, sliding his phone on his back pocket and placing his free hand on his waist. “I was just gonna ask for your number, sweetheart.”

Analyzing people was second nature for Jaehwan at that point, he would look at a person’s posture, what he looked like, talked like, dressed like and was able to sketch a profile in his head in a matter of seconds. Once he had that down he would look for a weakness to destabilize his opponent. An unstable opponent was a dead opponent.

“Maybe you wanted to you know-” the man shamelessly reached his hand down his pants, wide grin on his face. _“Talk.”_ Jaehwan laughed, looking the man in front of him up and down with a disgusted face.

He was in his mid-thirties and had heavy bags under his eyes, wasn’t sleeping due to some problem. There was a ring mark on his finger from the sun, married and frustrated. Reeked of cigarettes and beer, probably to cope with his miserable life. Jaehwan didn’t need much more than that.

“What makes you think you could ever get with someone like me?” he chose the exact words he knew would upset the man. “You sad little closeted thing.” Jaehwan mocked, pretending he would start to walk again. The man’s expression darkened, bingo.

He grind his teeth, clearly upset with the answer, Jaehwan was feeling his momentum coming, but his expression still was of disgust, keeping up with the character. “You really should control this mouth of yours, you could get in trouble.” his voice was intimidating, breath could be seen in the cold air of the night, forming white clouds that dissipated after a second. “Bad things tend to happen to pretty things like you that walk alone at night like this.”

The man put a hand on his waist, moving back his jacket so the gun that was placed inside his jeans could be seen by Jaehwan. The tall man behind him didn’t seem affected by the interaction, if anything he seemed amused by it.

Jaehwan had what he wanted. “And bad things happen to stupid men that let their guard down like this,” he whispered, rapidly grabbing the guy’s gun by the barrel with one hand and pulling it out from his pants. He knew he had a split of a second where they would be too surprised to act, but that’s all he needed, using it by lifting the knife on his hand and stabbing the man’s stomach.

Jaehwan used his own body weight to push the knife in up to its heel, then twist it against something hard he thought was his spine. The man’s gasp echoed into the cold air, Jaehwan stepped away from the alcool-reeking guy, letting him fall to his knees.

The tall one was standing just a step behind, his expression changing to pure shock as he realized what was happening, but Jaehwan was too fast, raising the gun he’d stolen and whacking it full force at tall man’s face. The blow was too strong, so he stumbled back and leaned on the wall. Jaehwan’s knife was still inside the other man’s stomach, and he wasn’t about to kill that guy with his own hands, so he punched him in the throat before he could recover from the previous blow to slow him down for a few seconds. That’s all he needed.

As the man gasped for air and blinked to recover from the blow on his head, Jaehwan crouched next to the now lying man on the floor, blood starting to form a puddle around him. He pulled the knife from the unmoving figure in a swift move and turned to the tall man again. Jaehwan hurriedly threw himself on top of the tall guy when he tried to reach for his gun, pressing the blade at his neck and pulling it in a rapid motion. People make the wrong assumption that slitting someone’s throat kills them immediately, but that’s not the case, you’re just setting them up for a painful and slow death. That was far from what Jaehwan wanted, so he stabbed the side of the guy’s neck, which he knew would strike an artery and then cause instant painless death. Jaehwan stepped away once he felt the warm blood spatter on his cheek, the limp body falling on the sidewalk with a thump next to the other, the ghost of a shocked expression still on his face.

Jaehwan was distracted by the sound of his own panting and pounding heart, but could still sense a figure coming behind him, so in a reflex he raised the knife and took a swing to strike whoever was trying to creep up on him. Taekwoon stepped to the side to avoid the blade, since he wouldn’t be able to stop his friend even if he tried.

“Sorry.” Jaehwan exhaled loudly, feeling his shoulders relax at the sight of his partner.

“Did he really call you pretty thing?” the black-haired asked raising his brow, patting his back as he passed by him and went into the building. Jaehwan snorted, cleaning the blade of his knife on one of the guy’s shirt before he followed Taekwoon in.

“Bet he regrets it now.” Jaehwan brought the hand that was holding the knife next to his face, wiping the blood off his cheek with the back of it.

As they entered the abandoned building they walked in silence, both vigilant when recognizing a new area and trying not to be announced, that’s why Jaehwan had gone in first after all. Taekwoon was in front of his partner, his gun’s safety off showing he was ready to fire at any moment if anyone would get close to any of them. It was a two-story structure, so when they started to walk through the empty hallway towards the staircase, they could hear the voices coming from the top get louder with each step. They cleared every room on the bottom even though they knew the most logical thing would for everyone to be on the second floor, but they were never careless. When they reached the bottom of the staircase Jaehwan tipped his head to the hole that led up and saw two shadows lurking on the top, guarding.

“Two,” Jaehwan mouthed, also displaying the number on his fingers, since Taekwoon was on the other side of the room.

Jaehwan slid the knife on the sheath and reached for his gun, exchanging looks with Taekwoon and hoping he would understand the message, trying to get close to take them out silently would be too dangerous, they had to lure them down. Jaehwan pointed the gun to a wall, knowing a gunshot would bring them running down really quickly and glanced at Taekwoon, waiting for his approval.

Taekwoon walked stealthily towards Jaehwan, putting his hand on his friend’s chest and pushing him out of the immediate line of fire before he could give him the green light. Jaehwan took two steps back from the staircase as Taekwoon took two steps forward, taking his friend’s previous place and pointing his gun to the top. Jaehwan’s finger was placed on the trigger and the gun pointing to a distant wall to them, but his eyes remained glued to his friend. When Taekwoon took a deep breath and gave a slight nod with his head, Jaehwan pressed it, sending the bullet towards the bricks and making a puff of dust around them as they shattered with the impact. The recoil of the gun was familiar, Jaehwan took it nonchalantly, feeling the intensity go from his hands to his arms to his shoulders, the energy dissipating and distributing through his body.

The noise echoed louder than it normally would due to the emptiness of the place and all the voices at the top went silent for a split second, long enough so that Jaehwan could also point his gun at the top to provide cover for his partner. Taekwoon was gripping the gun firmly with one hand, waiting with his index finger hovering over the trigger, his head being slightly tipped to the side making his choker feel tighter around his neck. There were steps quickly coming closer to them, more than two.

“Donghyun, what was that?” an unknown voice called from the top and as quick as his head could be seen peeking from the top of the stairway, he was on the ground, shot down by Taekwoon in a split second. His stance did not change one bit, legs apart, angled head, calm breathing.

Both of them waited for more people to show, but that didn’t happen. “Ok, no bullshitting,” they listened to a feminine voice, the one they must be there for, tone cold and firm. “What do you want?” She did not come into their line of vision, no one else dared to.

Jaehwan knew that was his cue. “The two of us just want to have a quick chat with you, Ire.” Sarcasm was heavy in his tone. “Our boss, you know, he’s not happy with you, darling.” Taekwoon still hadn’t moved, increasing his vigilance since his partner had to focus on something else.

“And who do you two work for, _darling?_ ” Disgust was the only thing present in her tone, Jaehwan liked how quickly he’d managed to get on her nerves.

“Moon Jisoo.” They could almost see her face becoming pale, fear starting to sink in, even more so when only silence followed. “Ring any bells?” he insisted after some seconds passed. They had to make their stay there as short as they could, since there were two bodies lying just outside of the building and the many entrances to where they were left them in a vulnerable position.

“You really are as much of a bitch as they describe you to be, Ken.” She connected the dots once Jaehwan said who they worked for. “Did he really send the golden duo over this little misunderstanding? That’s a waste of resources.” Her laugh was obviously fake.

“I wouldn’t call it a misunderstanding, Ire.” Jaehwan’s laugh was genuine.

“Will you and Leo come up so we can solve this like adults or we’ll just keep talking through walls?” She tried to sound calm, but both of them could detect the fear in her voice.

Jaehwan lowered his gun to his side and walked towards the stairs, but Taekwoon’s arm suddenly appearing in front of him kept him from going any forward. “What?” Jaehwan stared at him with a confused face.

Taekwoon didn’t respond, instead took the lead and started to climb up first. He wouldn’t say it out loud, seeing as Jaehwan’s ego didn’t need any more inflating, but since what had happened the last time they were working, Taekwoon was feeling overprotective over his friend. The purple and red blotches where the IV needles had been shoved in a rush by Sanghyuk still marked Jaehwan’s neck.

“If you try anything funny on us,” Taekwoon said under his breath once he reached halfway, but still loud enough that she could hear him. “I’ll take you all out before you can even see what hit you.” There was no trace of irony in his voice, that wasn’t a threat, it was a promise.

The silence that followed was only broken by the noise the boys made whilst walking up the stairs, Taekwoon’s gun now resting on his side. Ire was at the end of the hallway, small frame dressed in all black and mostly leather, the dark contrasting with her extremely fair complexion, face dimly lit by the moonlight coming through a nearby broken window. There was one man standing on each side of her, arms crossed as to intimidate the newcomers, both tall and big, scars marking their face and hands. If anyone would see either of them coming their way on the street, they would cross the road and keep walking on the other side.

In contrast to their rough appearance, Taekwoon and Jaehwan looked clean, polished, young. Jaehwan had a light wash jeans on, covered until the thighs by an oversized yellow t-shirt and converse shoes whilst Taekwoon was wearing black jeans paired with a red checked shirt and black boots, both not at all intimidating. However, despite the impression looks might give, they were not the two men scared there.

“So, Ire-” Jaehwan leaned into the wall whilst Taekwoon chose to stay a few steps behind him, staring at the woman so intensely it sent shivers down her spine. “you wanna tell me how the Dutch girl knew where the money was?” Ire made an effort to ignore the pressuring look she was receiving from Taekwoon and focused on Jaehwan.

“I don’t know, Ken, I was not the only one with that information,” she said firmly.

Jaehwan smiled. “Now how could you know _that?_ ” he was still leaning on the wall looking casual. Ire stood frozen, far from calm at the end of the hall, all the stories she’d heard about the two men going through her head.

Ire spoke in an attempt of sarcasm. “Because if I didn’t tell her, you and your boyfriend didn’t tell her-” she motioned towards Taekwoon. People assumed they were together all the time and them not denying or confirming the hypothesis just made everyone even surer. In fact, they both just didn’t care about what anyone thought. “And Jisoo didn’t tell her, someone else did, didn’t they.” Her black hair moved due to the slight breeze that entered the building.

Taekwoon was watching the interaction silently, as he often would, but turned his head when he heard people walking behind them, the ones Ire was dealing before they had arrived were silently leaving. No one even glanced back at Taekwoon, too scared to do so, instead stepped over the body he’d put on the floor and disappeared without a word.

“And who could that be?” Jaehwan asked. When he received silence as an answer his patience started to wear out, not his forte. “Ire,” he stood up straight, leaning away from the wall with a smug expression. “Do I look like an idiot?” he put the barrel of the gun against his chest as if it was his finger, she didn’t reply again. “Go on!” the end of the gun was now pointed at her, but it was not a threat. The men behind her shifted on their feet.

She swallowed down her fear, smiling as she spoke. “No, darling, far from it.” The nickname almost got caught in her throat.

“Good!” Jaehwan’s hand was now on the curve of his waist, mellow tone as if he was talking to a child. “We had a heart to heart with Jisoo. Right?” he turned to look at Taekwoon, he nodded lightly and Jaehwan turned to the woman again. “He’s confused, Ire.” There was a hint of a pout on his lips, her anger increased.

She spoke through her teeth. “Stop playing with me, Ken, you-” She took a step forward and in response also did Taekwoon, she stopped immediately, regretting having let him get under her nerves once she looked at the black-haired’s expression.

Taekwoon might look like an angel, but he could inflict hell on whoever crossed his or Jaehwan’s way. People feared him even more because of how mysterious he looked, no one knew what was on his mind.

“So stop hiding shit from me, this is your first and only warning.” Jaehwan’s expression darkened, her heart skipped a beat. “you really prefer Jisoo thinking you were the one that told her?” When she didn’t answer again and he pressured. “‘Cause that can end badly for you.” There was no trace of playfulness in his tone anymore, he’d had enough.

“What do I get from this?” Jaehwan laughed loudly before she could even finish, the sound echoing in the empty place.

“Your life, Ire.” It irritated her even further how lightly he was taking her for, but she didn’t interrupt him. “Or you think we’ll just let you walk out of here if you give us nothing?”

The men behind her glanced in her direction. She went through her options in her head as the two stares weighed heavy on her. “Fine,” she said, looking conflicted, but she knew it was either her or the one she was protecting.

The duo had exposed themselves that much not because they were stupid, but because they were confident they would walk out of there, like they always did, and she knew that.

“Who was it, Ire?” Jaehwan’s expression had not lightened one bit and Taekwoon could feel his friend losing the last of his patience, moving excessively as he talked.

“Matt,” she said and sighed loudly, that would cost her a really good connection.

 _100 bucks, Lee._ Taekwoon snorted loudly when the thought hit him and a smile formed on his lips, Ire shifted her attention to him, confusion spreading across her face. “Let’s go.” Taekwoon’s voice was heard for the first time since they’d arrived on the second floor. There was no point in staying there any longer, they got what they came for and he was very hungry.

“Hope I see you again, Ire.” Jaehwan mocked, smiling as he did. She bit her tongue so she would cuss back in an impulse.

Jaehwan turned his back on Ire without looking twice and started to walk, knowing Taekwoon would stay behind until he started going down the stairs, which was exactly what he did. Once his friend’s steps were far enough, Taekwoon broke eye contact with the woman standing in the shadows on the other side of the room and also turned away, walking in a provokingly slow pace towards the stairs. He knew how much they all wanted to just put a bullet in his head.

“Let’s go out the back,” Jaehwan said once Taekwoon reached the bottom, motioning to an exit to his left. The black haired nodded and they stepped out into the cold air in a rushed pace, both still holding their guns and glancing around to see if there was anyone following them. It was not very late, but they were in a very remote side of the city, so there was no one out on the street.

They scurried along the sidewalk towards the distantly parked car, both starting to shake due to the low temperature, reaching their destination after what seemed like a lot longer than it actually was. Once they were inside the car Jaehwan repeatedly pressed and turned the heating buttons before Taekwoon even had the chance to place the key in the ignition.

“Jesus, calm down, Jaehwan,” Taekwoon said as he started the car, placing the gun in the cupholder next to the gear. “Are you anxious cause you were _wrong-_ ” he put stress on the word, knowing how competitive the other was, a sly smirk on his lips. “and now you owe me 100 bucks?”

“Shut up!” Jaehwan replied putting his own gun away on the holster under his shirt and sliding the seat belt on, since Taekwoon had already started driving. They hadn’t decided where they were going yet, but staying in an empty street in walking distance to a building where they had just threatened and lowkey humiliated a gun dealer didn’t seem like the best idea. “I really thought he was smarter than that.” Jaehwan sighed. “Snitching on Jisoo is a guaranteed death sentence.”

“I told you, that guy has no loyalty,” Taekwoon said, the feeling coming back to his fingers after the heat hit it for long enough.

“Jisoo will be furious,” he said reaching over Taekwoon and pulling his seatbelt over his chest so he would put it on, he wouldn’t want them to be in a dangerous situation, after all. “I’m glad we’re not telling him in person."

Jaehwan sighed loudly as he dialed his boss’ number.

“You’re done already?” The familiar voice came from the other side after just 2 rings, Jaehwan moved the phone from his ear and put it on speaker so Taekwoon could hear the conversation too.

“Yeah, she cracked really fast,” Jaehwan said, grabbing his friend’s SP2022 from the cupholder and shoving it into the glove compartment, since they were now going into streets that had some people in it again. The last thing they needed was for someone to see a gun through the window and call the police on them.

“Good.” His voice was soft and melodic as usual, a harsh contrast to his personality. “She admitted it?” Jaehwan could see a ghost of a smile on his friend’s lips.

Jaehwan sighed loudly once again, rolling his eyes. “It wasn’t her.” he glanced at Taekwoon, biting his lower lip to keep himself from smiling, if he wasn’t driving Jaehwan thought he would punch him. “It was Matt.”

“What?” Jisoo sounded very surprised, keeping quiet for a few seconds. “Are you sure?”

“You know she wouldn’t lie to us.” Taekwoon said and they could hear the sound of something breaking on the other side, probably a mug on the wall.

“I’ll track that motherfucker down.” The voice seemed to have come from gritted teeth, breathing louder than usual.

Jisoo was not known for his kindness, quite the opposite. He’d earned the amount of respect he had by getting rid of whoever would stand between him and his goals, he had no ties to anyone when he started to climb to power, no family, no friends, no soulmates. The story that went around was that what made him so ruthless was having his soulmate die in his arms after he was hit by a stray bullet, some even said that the last name that Jisoo carried was his.

Taekwoon knew Jisoo for a lot longer than Jaehwan did, he had a closer relationship with him than to any of his other men, the only person that truly didn’t fear him. In fact, Jisoo trusted him enough that he’d gotten drunk with Taekwoon once, confirming the rumor to him in between sobs, painfully crying out his soulmate name as he clung to the other for comfort. Jisoo went on to forget about it on the next day and Taekwoon never brought it up again or told anybody, pretending it never happened, it was none of his business.

“Okay, once you do we’ll make this up for you,” Jaehwan said glancing at his partner.

The voice on the other side laughed. “No need, I’ll go to him myself.” A chill went down Jaehwan’s spine, he was not sure if from hearing Jisoo’s threat or from the cold metal of the gun touching his stomach when he moved on his seat.

“Shit, ok.” Jaehwan said before he could stop himself, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guy. Jisoo was typically brutal, but when he was angry things escalated even further, it would suck to be Matt for the rest of his now short life.

“Good job tonight,” Jisoo replied simply and the line went silent.

Jaehwan pressed the red button to confirm the call was over before he put the phone down, looking outside of the window into the now full streets. It didn’t seem like a Tuesday at all, people were filling in the bars and restaurants, the city was full of life. In the winter people turned to each other and alcohol to warm them up, the Seoul method of survival.

Taekwoon broke the silence. “You can call Hyuk now,” he stated with no further explanation, Jaehwan raised a brow.

“Why?” he asked, looking at his friend as he drove, one hand on the wheel.

“Cause you owe me 100 thousand won and he has to be there for you to pay us the fancy dinner we’re about to have.” Jaehwan laughed and unlocked his phone again, dialing the familiar number and putting the device on his ear.

Jaehwan realized Taekwoon had gone into the route that led to Sanghyuk’s house, the one he actually lived in next to campus instead of the one where his office was in a sketchy neighborhood.

“Everything okay?” Sanghyuk picked up quickly, whispering as if he couldn’t speak up.

“Yeah, Smurf, don’t worry.” Jaehwan could hear the other snort, amused by the nickname. “Where are you?” he asked even though he’d figured the answer.

“Library.” Jaehwan glanced at the clock in the car panel, 11:15 pm, he’d gone studying after his classes at the hospital. He reached over Taekwoon and slid the turn signal on so the older knew they were making their way to the university, he didn’t know his way around that part of the city like Jaehwan did.

“We’re 5 minutes from Hanyang. Pack up, nerd, I’m treating you to a fancy dinner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> jaehwan is my fave i swear... by this point is like his character has its own will and do what he wants


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, here we are... things are about to start happening. a look into hakyeon and taekwoon's friendship

People often asked Hakyeon how does it feel to fly a plane, to look forward and not see anything but the blue horizon and the sea of clouds beneath you, to dive into the nothingness of the sky. He couldn’t put it into words what it felt like, when he pulled the wheels off the ground and was suddenly midair, the freeing feeling didn’t compare to anything else he’d ever experienced. He remembered when he was 20 and sat in the cabin as a student for the first time, the moment the aircraft dove into the clouds and his heart skipped a beat he knew he wanted to do that for the rest of his life. Hakyeon was never afraid of crashing, it was like that could never even happen, but rather was filled by a sense of safety everytime he would take off, embraced by the gravity force and climbing pressure instead of weighted down by it.

Even if the long flights and back to back schedules could be exhausting on his body, the number of places he’d seen and the love for his profession made up for it. He only managed to confess his frustration over giving up most of his international flights to Taekwoon, who he trusted to know pretty much all of his thoughts, since he was not the kind of keeping things in, anyway.

Hakyeon wanted to have a chance with Minhyuk, so much in fact that it made him reevaluate his career and what it required from him. What he hadn’t shared with Taekwoon, however, was how unfair he thought the soulmate system had been with him, why did he had to give up something that he loved so dearly? Wasn’t his soulmate the one that was supposed to complete and understand him as he was? He would never allow Minhyuk or anyone to give up something they loved so much over him, but he rather ignore that thought, he couldn’t judge Minhyuk before actually knowing him.

Their story started like a cheesy romantic movie, Minhyuk was the cute coffee shop barista and Hakyeon was the client that would spend a lot of money buying drinks every day just to see him and get the little messages he would draw on his to-go cup. One day when Minhyuk went to hand him his morning drink their hands accidentally touched and the electric feeling filled their bodies, an identical mark appearing right after it and revealing they were chosen for each other. Hakyeon had kept all of the cups, the messages made him smile. The pilot had a 3 month back to back trip organized that he’d agreed on going before they’d met, meaning they only had 4 months of dates between Minhyuk’s long shifts and Hakyeon’s short time in town to get to know each other before Hakyeon had to be away for 3 entire months. Hakyeon hadn’t even been to his soulmate’s house yet, they would just go to back to the older’s, which was in a nicer neighborhood and seemed to please Minhyuk, he said it was comfortable.

“Bye, thank you very much,” Hakyeon said waving the last passenger as he stepped off the plane into the platform. He was finally home after 3 months, the longest and probably the last time he would stay away for that long. He felt thin arms going around his waist and turned his head to see the co-pilot he’d shared most of his days and nights with looking at him, a sweet smile on her lips.

“I’ll miss our long talks,” she said with her eyes watering. She was much older than Hakyeon, and even if still too young to be his mother, he knew the way she treated him was as if he was one of her kids. She was always so patient with him and he was grateful for how much she’d taught him the last months they’d worked together, after all, she’d had a lot more years on flying on her resumé.

“No, Jihyun,” Hakyeon turned fully to embrace her, the small frame fitting under his tall one. “please don’t start crying now.” He laughed as she rubbed her hands up and down his back.

Hakyeon could hear some of the cabin crew laughing as they finished checking the seats before they all could leave the airplane together.

“I told you I wouldn’t be the first one to cry.” Hakyeon looked up to see one of the younger flight attendants sticking her tongue in his direction, feeling accomplished by the fact that he was wrong.

He’d grown so attached to his 13 crew members, in the 3 months they’d traveled around the world, they spent it fighting and laughing as a family. The ages differed and the personalities too, but that just made them feel even more like a real family. They’d celebrated Christmas in a cramped hotel room in Iceland after buying all types of different surprise takeout foods from menus written in Icelandic, they’d hugged each other after the passage of the new year watching the fireworks in Greece, they’d flown around the world together. Hakyeon would miss seeing them every day.

“Well, you’ll be the _second_ to cry now, Tae,” Hakyeon said still holding on to his co-pilot, laughing at a random ‘we’ve arrived’ dance some of his crew were doing in the middle of the plane’s aisle. Soon he noticed there was a made up song that went with the dance.

“Right when you start your little speech,” she told him with an ironic tone and the blonde next to her chuckled. He was going to start protesting, but he realized he had actually prepared a speech.

When Jihyun’s arms fell from his waist, he used the cue to start talking. “So let’s get this over with. I-” Hakyeon began, but was quickly interrupted.

“Guys in the back,” the blonde screamed at the ones standing on the end of the aisle, “captain’s gonna start his totally unexpected speech,” she called them to the front.

As soon as they all gathered next to the front, some seated and some standing in the aisle, Hakyeon started his predicted-by-literally-everyone-in-his-crew speech, his heart tightening from the goodbye feeling that was creeping up on him.

“Firstly, I need to thank you for trusting me as the team’s captain,” he started with the pun, some turned their eyes, Hakyeon was pleased with himself. “For trusting Jihyun and I would always make sure we all landed safely, it really encouraged us. Thanks for putting up with my complaining too, this last few weeks must have been hard on your ears.” He laughed, thinking how unbearable it must have been for them at times with him so bitter over Minhyuk’s disappearing act. They’d been so patient, listened to the same story so many times. “These past 3 months were amazing, you were like family to me, laughing, crying, fighting…” he saw them nodding their heads, starting to stand closer and wrap their arms around each other’s shoulders. “What we saw and went through together as a team and friends is something I’ll never forget, I feel very lucky to have this life and to know all of you. I feel especially lucky to have known Jimin’s Icelandic, that was incredible.”

Hakyeon saw her burying her face on her hands whilst everyone laughed, the funny memory of the girl trying to order food in Icelandic even though she had never spoken or heard any of it before coming back to all the crew. He realized then how grateful he was for those people, how grateful for their paths having crossed.

“You worked very hard and now it’s time for us to rest… a lot, I know.” They all nodded and screamed things like ‘you bet’ and Hakyeon laughed. “Let’s not get soppy and sad, most of us will still be assigned to fly together, Tae,” he spoke to the girl that had tears in her eyes, the one he’d said would be the second to cry. She waved her hand when people turned to look at her, not liking the attention, so Hakyeon brought the focus to himself again. “Now, class is dismissed _only if_ you pinky promise that Cha Hakyeon is your favorite, most trustworthy and most handsome pilot you’ll ever going to work with.” The people standing in the front stood up laughing and pulled him by his hand, which he had raised and was holding the fingers up with the number of requirements. “Don’t cheat on me, I will find out!”

He let himself be embraced, feeling little pats on his butt, hearing the voices of his noisy friends assuring him they would most definitely cheat on him coming from all directions. At first, there were 2 people with their arms around Hakyeon’s shoulder, but then he started to feel more and more people coming in, hands sliding on his waist and resting on his side, the small space of the plane almost making the interaction impossible, but humans truly are a determined species. When they pulled apart there was no reason to stay in the cramped space anymore, so they said their goodbyes and started to leave the aircraft in groups of 2 or 3, talking about how tired they were and how they missed their beds.

Hakyeon missed his house too. Missed his cream couch, his comfy bed, his fridge that always had some leftover takeout food, his shelf with all the cups Minhyuk had given him. Minhyuk. He missed Minhyuk too, even though he was upset, he wanted to see him. His hand went to the side of his stomach in reflex, touching the area over his uniform were their mark was, pulling it away abruptly once he realized what he was doing, a form of childish protest. Hakyeon felt so angry every time he remembered his soulmate, when he would let the feeling take over him it was like the skin around his mark was shrinking, pulling, he thought it even felt rough to the touch.

Hakyeon’s steps were quick in the familiar airport, like walking fast would make his thoughts be left behind in a place where it wouldn’t bother him. He didn’t know Minhyuk for that long, but apparently, it was long enough that for him to hope he would be waiting on the other side of the gate with a plausible explanation. Had he gotten attached already? He didn’t like that thought, his steps fastened.

When he saw the arrivals gate that would lead him into the outside part of the airport his heart skipped a beat, he noticed how nervous he was when his tongue went over his dry lips. He walked in a slower pace towards the doors, every time they would open he could see people hugging and holding signs of welcome on the other side.

Once he stepped through it himself his eyes found his soulmate immediately, as if he was the only one standing there.

Taekwoon was leaning on a wall whilst looking at his phone, usual plain expression as he glanced up occasionally to check if Hakyeon had arrived yet. It took physical effort for Hakyeon to not drop his carry-on and run towards Taekwoon, missing his best friend like they hadn’t seen each other for a decade, but holding it tight as he walked towards him. Taekwoon’s eyes found Hakyeon’s when he glanced up again and he leaned away from the wall, laughing when the other left the carry-on midway and opened his arms to embrace him.

They clashed together rather than embraced, Hakyeon’s arms wrapping around his soulmate’s neck tightly as Taekwoon’s went around his torso, a perfect fit. Hakyeon didn’t know if it was because they had been away for that long or if it was because their marks were very close together as Taekwoon rubbed his hand lightly on his back, but there were bursts of warm energy that were radiating from it, a force so strong it seemed to be pulling them even closer together. They both felt happy, there was no other way to put it, the familiarity they brought to each other was like Taekwoon was Hakyeon’s home himself, the moment he saw him he got the feeling he’d been waiting for during the entire trip.

“You’re so hot,” Taekwoon murmured against his friend’s shoulder after a few seconds of silence, Hakyeon arms fell from his neck to his shoulders so he could look at his face as he replied with a smug expression.

“Thank you, I know.” He laughed and Taekwoon turned his eyes, loosening his grip on Hakyeon’s back so they could talk from a comfortable distance, but not letting go of him yet.

“Warm, Hakyeon, it’s like you’re on fire,” he said in a serious and slightly worried tone as the other laughed, pulling him close by his arms and hugging tightly again.

Hakyeon was just as tall as him but very slim and small built, which made him fit perfectly under Taekwoon’s big structure, one arm long enough to wrap around his friend’s thin waist completely.

“I know, idiot, I’m joking,” Hakyeon said feeling Taekwoon’s hair tickle his cheek, another wave of heat coming from his back right after, noted instantly considering how big his mark was. “It’s the mark.” 

“I thought you might be sick, you look a lot thinner than what you did when you left.” Taekwoon patted his back twice before pushing him away gently. Hakyeon stepped away and looked at his friend, shaking his head, confirming he was fine.

“I told you he would come, whiny,” a familiar voice behind Hakyeon said, he turned to see one of his crew members standing close to him, a group of people he thought was her family talking behind her. 

Hakyeon was confused for a moment before he noticed Jimin was looking at Taekwoon, an eyebrow raised with an amused expression. Then he realized she thought he was Minhyuk. Then he remembered Minhyuk actually didn’t come to pick him up like the last bit of hope he had inside kept telling he would.

Hakyeon made sure his smile didn’t fade as he answered. “Jim, this is Taekwoon.”

Taekwoon seemed to have picked up on what was happening, bowing his head towards her like Hakyeon was just introducing them rather than explaining that the actual Minhyuk hadn’t come.

“Oh.” They could both see the flush rising to her cheeks, embarrassed when she realized what she’d done. “That makes more sense, though.” Jimin diverted from the subject, her hands motioning towards Taekwoon’s middle, he looked down at his shirt then back up, confused. “The outfit gave it away, I just didn’t pay attention.” There was a small smile on her lips.

Taekwoon was wearing black skinny jeans that were ripped all the way up to his thigh, a black studded belt matching his black studded thick jacket, thrown over his plain white t-shirt. He didn’t pay much attention to what he was putting on, even though the long silver earring, necklaces and rings made it seem like he did. He would wear them pretty much all the time, too lazy to take them off and put them on constantly.

Taekwoon glanced at his friend, wondering what Hakyeon had told his crew about him. “They started to ask why was I buying that many accessories everywhere we went if I never wear them, so I told them they were all presents for you.”

Taekwoon nodded, turning one of the rings on his fingers. “Oh- yeah, I tend to go overdo it.” 

“Good thing they look good on you, cause Hakyeon has made you a stock,” Jimin said laughing, he smiled.

“Thank you.” Taekwoon thought she was just as kind as Hakyeon had described her to be.

Hakyeon would always tell Taekwoon how lucky he’d gotten that time, how the people that were assigned to be together for the trip were all so nice and talented. He hoped this time they were made into a fixed crew, Hakyeon didn’t like changes that much.

“Anyway, we should get going, I’m exhausted,” Hakyeon said and Jimin agreed immediately, feeling she should go back to her family too.

“Yes, Cap, I should get going too.” she raised her hand to tap Hakyeon’s shoulder, turning to Taekwoon and smiling. “Yeon talks a lot about you, I was curious who was the amazing, handsome, perfect Taekwoon. It was nice to meet you.” She made air quotes on the adjectives, altering her voice to sound like Hakyeon’s, Taekwoon laughed.

“It was nice meeting you too.” 

“You either tell people I’m the worst or that I’m perfect, I don’t get it.” Taekwoon chuckled, walking towards the forgotten carry-on and picking it up so Hakyeon didn’t have to.

“I only say you’re the worst when you can hear me.” 

Hakyeon and Taekwoon had a push and pull friendship, they would badmouth each other all the time, but no one else could or they would get very upset. Taekwoon still remembered clearly when they were on the senior year of high school and one guy decided to make fun of Hakyeon for being gay, pushing him around. A lot of people stood up for him of course, the class president had a lot of friends, but personally, Taekwoon thought that breaking only his nose wasn’t enough.

“Where is the rest of your stuff?” Taekwoon asked looking at the gate, seeing if Hakyeon had left it there when he ran to hug him.

“They’ll send the suitcase to my house,” Hakyeon said putting his hand on Taekwoon’s waist and starting to walk towards the exit, there was no need to stay there any longer.

“Okay. Are you too tired or wanna go out to eat something?” Hakyeon thought about it for a second before replying, he was obviously beat, but the idea of going home to feel bad for himself over being abandoned by his soulmate seemed worse.

“I’m tired but I can’t sleep yet, it’s the middle of the day,” he said as they stepped outside of the airport, feeling the sunlight hit his face at the same time as the cold breeze of winter did, he was definitely underdressed for that weather. “I’m craving Korean food, we could go to that fancy place with the wood tables for lunch, they have the best meat.” 

“In Gangnam?” Taekwoon asked throwing the carry-on at the backseat from the driver’s seat so he didn’t have to stay any extra time in the cold.

“Yeah, that place we went for my birthday last year.” Hakyeon placed both his hands at the end of the heater.

“Sure, I went there yesterday, but I’m up for it again.” He remembered Jaehwan sulking as he took the check to pay the night before.

“Date?” Hakyeon asked, knowing that was a special occasion kind of restaurant.

Taekwoon huffed out a laugh. “No, Ken lost a bet so he treated our friend and me for dinner there after work.”

“Ah-” Hakyeon nodded, “is he back to work already?”

“He went back yesterday,” Taekwoon said simply, knowing Hakyeon would ask more anyway.

“So he’s recovered.” It sounded more like a question than an answer.

“Back to his annoying self already.” Taekwoon was in a confined space with a curious Hakyeon for 40 minutes, he knew he would be answering questions all the way to Gangnam.

“So are his legs okay?” Hakyeon asked, Taekwoon laughed at his attempt of getting information out of him.

“His legs are ok, Yeon.” Taekwoon used the same patient tone he always did.

Hakyeon thought about the response for a second, twisting his lips, then asked again. “And his head?”

“As ok as it can be.” Taekwoon didn’t take his eyes from the road, driving relaxedly with one hand on the wheel and the other resting on his thigh, feeling his friend’s eyes on him as he thought about his next question.

“This is torture, I wish you would just tell me what happened.” 

Taekwoon wished he could share too, he wished to know what Hakyeon would think of him if he knew, if he would judge or try to guilt trip him to get out. Maybe he wanted someone to guilt trip him to getting out. Or maybe he wished to have the courage to do that himself.

“You know I can’t, I’m sorry,” Taekwoon said what he had many times before, it was a reflex response by then.

Taekwoon’s phone started to buzz in his pocket, so he used the hand that was resting on his thigh to dig it out of the cramped space. He glanced down quickly to see ‘hot partner’ was the caller, Jaehwan had managed to go through his phone again.

“Don’t pick up, you’re driving.” Hakyeon still had his eyes closed, hearing the device buzzing in his friend’s hand.

Taekwoon paid him no mind, pressing the green button and bringing the device to his ear. “Hey.”

Hakyeon opened his eyes immediately, glaring at his soulmate, he never listened. “I’ll take it, give it to me.” He reached out his hand with his palm facing up, Taekwoon ignored him again.

“Hey.” Jaehwan’s voice sounded sleepy, like he’d just woken up. “Jisoo just called, he wants us to solve something today.”

“What time?” Taekwoon asked, thinking that was no way he would ditch Hakyeon early for work when they hadn’t seen each other for 3 months.

“Around eight thirty-ish.” He yawned, Taekwoon could almost see he stretching himself like a fat puppy, moving as little as he could with his belly facing down.

“Did he tell you what it is?” Taekwoon asked, seeing from the corner of his eyes that Hakyeon still had his palm up.

“It’s a drop off of something, didn’t sound big, I don’t know.” Taekwoon could barely understand what he was saying, he was making no effort to speak. “I’ll pick you up if you want.”

“I don’t know where I’ll be by then, but I’ll tell you.” He thought by eight Hakyeon would be home probably passed out anyway, so there would be no problem.

Taekwoon made sure Hakyeon didn’t know anything about his job, so if god forbid anyone would find him, he would sound innocent and clueless. Which was exactly what he was. As for his partner, he’d seen Jaehwan go to the extent of being willing to take a bullet for him in the field, which was very uncommon in the free-for-all business they worked in, that was enough trust earned so he could know a thing or two about Hakyeon. He knew his name and a few things about their friendship and background, but that was the extent of it. No face, no last name, no personal information, basically nothing that was enough to track him down if, let’s say, Jaehwan was under torture and had to speak. Even though Taekwoon had seen Jaehwan in that situation once and he took it as if it was nothing, he’d never seen anyone with pain tolerance that high.

“Fine!” Hakyeon said loudly from Taekwoon’s side, his hand now pointing at his face. “If we die, I’ll kill you,” he said and closed his eyes again, mumbling something about how irresponsible his friend was.

Jaehwan recognized the voice, he’d overheard it a few times. “Oh yeah, Hakyeon’s back today. Are you annoying him already?”

“More like he’s annoying me.” 

“Who is that?” Hakyeon asked angry, analyzing how dangerous would it be if he tried to reach over to steal the phone from his friend’s hand.

“I can go by myself if you want,” Jaehwan suggested.

Taekwoon didn’t even think about it before he answered, he knew what kind of jobs Jisoo would normally give them. The hard ones. “No, you shouldn’t go alone.”

“Oh, that’s Ken,” Hakyeon said, the change in tone alarming Taekwoon he was up to something. “Ken!” he screamed towards his soulmate’s ear and startled him, where was all the traffic safety worries he seemed to care so much about minutes before, Taekwoon didn’t know. “I hope you’re doing better, being sick sucks but putting up with Taek for 3 years is proof that you’re strong!” Taekwoon leaned away from his screaming friend, glad there was enough traffic that time of day that he wasn’t going fast.

“Glad to get some recognition for putting up with you.” Taekwoon could hear Jaehwan laughing after he finished speaking, he controlled the urge to turn his eyes. Jaehwan could hear Hakyeon laughing too.

Jaehwan and Hakyeon were similar in a lot of ways, which made them both polar opposites to Taekwoon. He often complained about how much he had to deal with, but having them was part of what kept him sane. Taekwoon often felt like he could get lost inside himself, suffocating from all the darkness that tried to control him from time to time, Hakyeon and Jaehwan would drown out those thoughts, in a way, make his days brighter.

“I’ll get you a medal, anything else?” Taekwoon said annoyed, Jaehwan seemed to find it amusing.

“No, that’ll be all,” he said and yawned again.

“I’ll call you later,” Taekwoon said in a more friendly tone, smiling when Jaehwan used a cute voice to reply before hanging up.

After the call ended they both stayed in silence, Taekwoon chose to not speak to disturb him, focusing on driving instead. Hakyeon thought he was just resting with his eyes closed, but when Taekwoon parked the car and touched his arm lightly he knew he’d fallen asleep.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drop you off?” Hakyeon fluttered his eyes open when he heard Taekwoon’s voice close to him, the tone even softer than usual. He smiled and shook his head, stretching his arms and legs the most he could in the cramped space to feel more awake.

“No, it was just a nap.” 

“It’s cold today, the restaurant is a 5-minute walk. Do you want my coat?" Taekwoon asked, feeling a bit guilty he hadn’t remembered to bring him a coat from home, but he couldn’t have known Hakyeon wouldn’t have his luggage with him.

“I have a scarf in my bag, it’s just the walk there, don’t worry,” he said whilst reaching over from the front to the backseat, zipping the front pocket open and grabbing the navy scarf that he’d bought and left there because it matched his uniform.

When Hakyeon opened the door of the car he was greeted with a cold wind, but gladly the temperature didn’t feel below zero. He felt happy to have the cold again, the last 2 weeks of traveling were mainly in South America, where the summer was still strong at the beginning of February, so the cold was a harsh change.

Regardless of liking the cold, the walk was not so pleasant considering how strong the wind was, so when they arrived at the restaurant door Hakyeon sighed in relief. The place was not crowded and they had a lot of options for tables, choosing one by the window where they could feel the sunlight coming through it.

“So, you probably have a lot to tell me,” Taekwoon said once they had called the waiter and ordered their food, or rather he kept his friend from ordering the entire menu.

Hakyeon nodded excitedly. “I told you most of the Europe stuff already, France, Scotland… All last year still. The timing was great this time because the flight schedules put us in Iceland for Christmas and Greece for new years. Taek, the fireworks were insane, the city was all lit up with fairy lights, everyone was on the streets, it was absolutely perfect.” Taekwoon remembered the video he’d sent with people hugging each other and screaming things he couldn’t understand at the moment the clock turned twelve, a few of Hakyeon’s crew members crying. “People were so kind to us and kept offering drinks and food.” He chuckled, remembering it vividly.

“The video was really pretty.” He nodded, making himself comfortable on the chair as he listened to his friend.

“Right? And they have this tradition of playing games on new years, they say that it’s a lucky day, so we bought some cards from an old lady and played and drank the entire night.” he could feel himself smiling, remembering how he’d lost almost all rounds. “When we got tired of playing, it was close to sunrise, so we walked to a nearby beach and watched the first sunrise of the year, it was beautiful.”

“I can imagine.” All the pictures his friend had shown him looked like a paradise of clear water and beautiful landscapes, he definitely wanted to see it for himself. “I’ll go someday.”

“We’ll go someday, once we’re both married and rich.” Taekwoon smiled at that.

“Did you buy my stuff there?” Taekwoon asked pulling on his necklace, just in case he didn’t understand what he was talking about.

Hakyeon shook his head. “I bought you stuff everywhere, Taek, seriously,” he said laughing. “If I want to, I could give you monthly presents until your birthday, I really went overboard this time.” He tried to think of the things he’d bought, but they were too many.

He knew he was buying a few things here and there, but when he organized his suitcase and put all of it together was when he noticed maybe it was too much.

“Why?” Taekwoon sounded genuinely confused, Hakyeon turned his eyes.

“Because I like you, Jung Taekwoon.” His tone was sarcastic but he was not lying. “And I missed you too, I bought more near the end of the tour, everything seemed to remind me of you.”

“So that’s how I get myself presents? By getting you to miss me?” Taekwoon reached over and grabbed Hakyeon’s water, raising his brow as he drank. “Easy, I’ll disappear then.”

Hakyeon sighed. “Please don’t, one is enough.”

Silence followed his sentence, Taekwoon was not the kind to ask if someone wanted to talk, he just waited until they wanted to do so naturally. He wanted to understand what had happened with Minhyuk and it was obvious Hakyeon was acting different, annoyed, upset, but the subject hadn’t come into the conversation until then.

“Are you okay?” Taekwoon asked after not having broken eye contact through the entire silence. People often commented on how intense and obvious his stares were, but that just came naturally to him, Hakyeon was used to it by then.

“No, this is- infuriating,” Hakyeon leaned back on the chair, staring back at Taekwoon, who was just patiently waiting for him to continue. “No one would do this if they weren’t upset, but I don’t know what I did.” He grabbed his phone from his pocket and tapped a few times before he handed over to Taekwoon.

Right when Taekwoon took the phone he could see that it was a chat between Hakyeon and Minhyuk, still dating January.

i’m taking a few weeks off when i get home so i’ll have time to help her set things  
after i sleep for at least 1 week straight

that’s what i told her haha  
anyway, when are you coming back?   
i’m an idiot and lost the flight info you left me

you’re my idiot  
the 8th

of february? i thought you’d be gone until march

god, no  
in less than 3 weeks i’ll be there

oh okay  
that’s great baby  
we’ll be together sooner than what i thought  
i miss you

me too but it’s almost over  
ok i need to fly this thing i’ll talk to you later  
heyyy i’m back  
min?   
minhyukkk?   
i called you you didn’t pick up  
it’s been 3 days now seriously what is going on  
are you okay? i’m worried  
minhyuk  
what’s wrong  
please talk to me, are you mad? i saw you were online earlier  
i can see you reading everything, i hope you know  
this is ridiculous  
ok, fine

Taekwoon furrowed his brows, he didn’t understand how come the last thing a person says before they start to ignore the other is ‘I miss you’. He looked back up at Hakyeon, who had an I-told-you-so face on.

“Ok, it’s weird,” Taekwoon admitted. Before he saw the conversation he thought something had to happen to make Minhyuk disappear, but apparently, there was none, he was just being a dick.

“I told you. I saw him reading everything I sent, I saw him online, I called him… He’s ignoring me because he wants to. Also, he’s not dead, cause I would have felt that,” Hakyeon said pointing down, Taekwoon assumed at his and Minhyuk’s mark.

Taekwoon held in a laughter at how extreme his soulmate had thought the situation through. “What are you going to do?” 

“I’ve never been to his place, but I know where it is, I’m going there tomorrow, I guess.” He sounded tired, Taekwoon felt bad for him. He also wished Hakyeon would punch Minhyuk’s face to make this even.

When the waiter came bringing Taekwoon’s dish and Hakyeon’s multiple dishes they changed the subject, coming back to the pilot’s adventures. Hakyeon felt glad he went to lunch, even if he was really upset at what was happening, talking to his best friend made him forget that. Taekwoon and Hakyeon knew each other since they were in high school, they’d been through thick and thin together, talking was effortless, their connection was true to the mark’s cliché: perfect.

“And he let you in?” Taekwoon sounded surprised, listening to Hakyeon’s story from the last country he’d been to.

Hakyeon held in the will to laugh out loud, bringing his hand to cover his mouth as he nodded. “Does that surprise you? I can be very persuasive, Taek, body language is universal.” Taekwoon smiled imagining his best friend at a private club’s door at 3 am trying to talk a Brazilian guard that did not speak a single word of English into letting him and his other 5 friends in.

“You’re amazing, I could never do that,” he said honestly, trying to seduce someone in real life seemed too challenging. He would do that at work easily because it was like playing a part, Leo was mysterious and sexy, Taekwoon was shy.

Hakyeon shook his head vigorously, wiggling the fork that was previously in his dessert at his friend’s direction. “Believe me, you could. If you were wearing one of those slightly cropped tops and kinky body chains you have, you would have gotten in much easier than we did.”

Taekwoon coughed against the rim of his glass, almost spitting the drink. “Kinky?”

“Yes,” he said like he was stating the obvious, grabbing another piece of his chocolate dessert and eating it. “Not so much those delicate silver ones you put over your shirt, but those garter-looking leather straps ones you put over your thighs sometimes?” his tone changed and Taekwoon’s ears warmed. “Those are kinky.” Hakyeon pouted his lips and winked at him.

Taekwoon shoved his face on his hands, feeling the blush rise from his neck to his forehead, mortified. “We’re done with this talk.” 

“What did you think they looked like? Cute?!” He couldn’t believe his friend thought leather accessories you put over your jeans looked anything but sexy, especially when you’re someone like Taekwoon, who looks like they could eat you with his eyes when he stared.

“ _Not_ kinky.” The voice was muffled again, Hakyeon lift his hands to push Taekwoon’s fingers from his face, seeing his red-like-steamed-crab complexion.

Hakyeon looked deep into his eyes when he spoke again, pleased with the reaction, he was one of the few people who could get under Taekwoon’s skin like that. “Matches your pervy kinks.”

“God, Hakyeon.” he pushed his soulmate’s hand and covered his face again, feeling the blush intensify on his cheeks and Hakyeon laughed louder, a few people glanced from other tables, he didn’t care.

Hakyeon laughed for a long moment before he reached over and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I’m joking, I’m joking, sorry.”

When Taekwoon removed his hands from his face he still felt giggly from embarrassment, so he reached over and stole his friend fork, eating a piece of his cake so he had something to do with his mouth other than laugh like an idiot.

“Eat the rest, I’m dying here.” Hakyeon took the opportunity to offer him to finish, he thought that’s how pregnant woman’s pants must feel like when the belly starts showing.

Hakyeon glanced at his watch, it was past 4 pm already, they had talked and eaten for almost 2 hours. He motioned for a waiter that was nearby for their check, he bowed understanding and went to grab it.

“Of course, who eats 3 dishes and a dessert,” Taekwoon said gladly bringing the cake next to him, the type to not buy sweets for himself or he wouldn’t eat anything else.

“You ate half of that last one.” He tried to make his point even though he knew eating more than two dishes was still very excessive.

The waiter didn’t take more than a minute to bring the check and when Hakyeon took out his wallet his friend tried to stop him immediately. “This is a welcome home lunch, I’ll get it.” Taekwoon’s hand held the other’s wrist lightly, he wiggled himself free.

“No, no. I wasn’t here for your birthday, Taek, see it as a birthday treat,” he said taking out the card in a swift move and handing it to the waiter before Taekwoon could make an objection.

The waiter smiled at the interaction, taking Hakyeon’s card as he’d asked and putting into the machine, confirming the amount before passing it to the owner so he could type the password. Hakyeon paid attention as usual when putting in the numbers, making sure he had matched the password to the right credit card.

When the transaction failed, that was strike one.

“I’m sorry sir, the credit card was declined.” 

“Wrong password?” Taekwoon asked, still focusing on his cake.

Hakyeon raised his brow, taking the card off the machine and analyzing it with his eyes as if that would explain the defect. “No, that’s right. I’ll just use another one.”

The waiter shook his hands as if he was saying ‘take your time’, patiently waiting as Hakyeon took out the silver credit card and hand it to him. Same as before, he typed in the total due and hand it to Hakyeon, who now put in a different password he was also sure it matched that card.

Transaction declined.

“What?” Hakyeon said bringing his head to hover over the machine, checking the letters as if he couldn’t believe they were real. He had one of his cards fail him once, but not two and definitely not at the same time. Taekwoon glanced over to check the letters also, surprised at the coincidence.

“I’m sorry,” the waiter said sounding guilty, thinking he was embarrassing his customer.

“Oh no, _I’m_ sorry.” He smiled at the kind old man and then glanced back at Taekwoon, who mirrored his clueless expression.

“They probably blocked it because you kept using it all over the place everywhere you landed,” Taekwoon said already going through his own wallet, giving the waiter his own card. “Welcome home lunch it is.”

Hakyeon looked utterly confused, when traveling he relied on money rather than credit cards, meaning he hadn’t used any for the past 2 weeks. Credit cards would charge for transactions made abroad, he would never use them if not for an emergency or he had run out of the country’s currency on paper, which sometimes happened, but that time it had not. So why were both of his credit cards blocked?

The waiter looked relieved when Taekwoon’s card was not declined, thanking both of them for coming and apologizing for the trouble, welcoming them to stay as long as they wanted, seeing as there was still cake on Taekwoon’s plate.

“What’s with the face?” Taekwoon asked and Hakyeon realized he was frowning, his expression softened. “It’s probably nothing, you can call the bank tomorrow.” 

“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine.” 

Hakyeon knew he had some money at a drawer at home and he could go to the bank the next day, so it would be just one night without his cards. He was a very cautious person when it came to money, something he’d learned from his mom. He loved his dad to pieces, but he’d always been the closest with his mother, she had taught him how to drive, when he got his first job at a café she was the one that went to the bank with him and opened his account, taught him to be independent.

“You know, I’m glad I worked my butt off these past few months,” Hakyeon said, leaning back on the chair to relieve the pressure on his full stomach. “Now I get 31 whole days of binging my shows on Netflix,” he said thinking about how amazing it would be to have his routine again, a fixed time zone, not confusing his body with the crazy sleeping schedule.

“I’ve never seen you happy about not flying before,” Taekwoon said sipping on Hakyeon’s, now his own, glass of water, cleaning a bit of the sweetness from the chocolate off his tongue.

“I’ll ask for a Japan flight if I miss it too much, 7 hours between going and returning should be enough to hold me off until the rest of the holiday.” Hakyeon could sound like an addict when he spoke about his work, but he truly loved everything about it.

Hakyeon was interrupted by a yawn, which reminded his soulmate that he might be well rested and fine, but his best friend was far from it. “Let’s go, I’m gonna take you home,” Taekwoon said pushing his chair back as silently as he could and standing up, reaching his arm far out and grabbing his black coat from the hanger standing beside their table. Hakyeon was not as delicate in his movements, getting up in a noisier way to grab his own jacket and scarf.

When the pair stepped out of the restaurant, the cold felt biting on Hakyeon’s skin, he stepped closer to his soulmate in a reflex. Taekwoon was not the type to enjoy random, even more so public, displays of affection, but Hakyeon seemed to always make him open exceptions for everything. He opened the single button he had closed on his coat and pulled one of Hakyeon’s arms, sliding it in between the thick fabric and his back, bringing him flush to his side. Hakyeon clung to him like a koala, synchronizing his steps to his friend’s so they wouldn’t stumble on each other clumsily as they walked.

The entire drive to Hakyeon’s house brought a whole new appreciation to the creators of heating devices.

“Do you want me to help you up?” Taekwoon said when he pulled into Hakyeon’s driveway, watching his friend chuckle in response.

“With my 5kg carry-on? I think I’ve got it. I’ll text you once I’m up from my 15-hour beauty sleep.”

“You need more hours for that,” he teased, Hakyeon turned his eyes, raising his hand and slapping it on his friend’s neck in a chopping motion, an old habit of his. “Call me if you need anything.”

“Bye, ugly,” he replied wrinkling his nose in response to the teasing, opening the car door and stepping out, turning to wave at Taekwoon one last time before he went into the building.

Hakyeon was so happy to be coming back home he thought he could cry as he turned the key and opened the door. His living room was the same as he’d left it, everything still stood in the same spot, untouched. He felt a smile form on his lips when the familiar smell of the wood flooring hit his nose, the comforting scent only your house could bring, capable of relaxing your tension immediately. He stepped inside, took his shoes off and went up to the table, dropping the keys and his phone on top of it as he walked to the window, opening the curtain so the natural light could flood the place.

He went up to the thermostat and turned it on high, thinking he would become a popsicle if he came out of the shower into that chilly atmosphere. He then went past his room, missing the only thing that had been touched in his house since he’d left as he walked straight into the bathroom.

Strike two.

Hakyeon had always been the type to enjoy long relaxing bubble baths, that’s why when the bank authorized his mortgage loan to buy his own apartment, he made sure to pick one that _didn’t_ have a bath. He wouldn’t be able to not use it every night he got home, probably ending up with some ridiculous story such as ‘dozed off and almost drowned’, it seemed best not to. As he took off his uniform and put it on the laundry basket he caught a glimpse of his reflection on the mirror. He took a step nearer.

“God, I look dead,” he whispered with his face close to the surface of the mirror.

Hakyeon also noted why Taekwoon had been able to point out he was thinner so fast earlier, even with puffy cheeks his face looked visibly slimmer. Since Minhyuk vanished he’d become more and more upset, which caused a loss in his appetite, he would eat when out with his crew, but when he was alone in his hotel room he never did, the kilos started to drop fast.

Hakyeon hated to admit how bad he felt about what was going on, he barely even knew Minhyuk, but somehow that damn mark made everything different. Sharing a soulmate mark with someone transforms the way you bond with them, who wouldn’t care about how the person who is perfect for you acts towards you?

Hakyeon lost count of how many times he’d avoided thinking about Minhyuk that night, deciding then to just let himself feel angry. Why was this happening to him? What had he done? Memories from them both together flashed his mind, Minhyuk’s smile after they shared their first kiss, the way he fit under Hakyeon’s arms, the first time their hands touched and they got their roses.

He couldn’t stop himself from gazing down at the small mark, their unique orange rose. The stalk started from his hip bone, emerging from inside his skin in a way only a soulmate mark could. The thin green line went on to also shape its leaves and many thorns, the rose itself at full bloom, the petals open and some even falling, giving it a delicate feel.

He couldn’t tell if the warm feeling on his stomach was from the hot water of the shower or if his mark was acting up again, but if it was possible, it was like the thorns were pricking his skin. He resisted the urge to touch the rose, running his hands through his hair and turning his face to hit the flow directly. Hakyeon stood like that for a while, feeling the warm water run through his body, hoping somehow it would take some tension out of him as it went down the drain. If he’d started crying right then it would be a movie worthy scene.

But Hakyeon didn’t cry. He was known for normally being an emotional and sensitive person, but he was too annoyed that time to shed a tear over the situation. He was just genuinely confused, unsure of how he’d fucked a soulmate relationship up, those were a rare happening. When you fall in love with your soulmate the pull appears, making being apart painful, too strong to resist and even physically draining on the body. Gladly, Hakyeon was not in love with Minhyuk. He’d heard stories of soulmates tearings before too, but they were also rare and he wasn't allowing his mind to go there yet.

Eventually, the man decided it was time to step out of the shower, not because he wanted to leave, but because he wanted a glass of wine to help him divert from his thoughts, and he couldn’t exactly drink it in there. When Hakyeon finished putting his lotion and moisturizer he rubbed his hand on the foggy mirror again and was pleased when what he saw was considerably better than 30 minutes before. His features still showed tiredness, but his skin was glowy now, the wet hair giving a fresh vibe he personally loved on him.

Hakyeon was pleased as he stepped out of the bathroom, a towel around his waist as he went to his room to choose something comfortable to wear. He decided on some loose black sweatpants and an old baby-blue t-shirt he loved, even though it was way too short on him and revealed some of his stomach if he raised his arms even a little bit. But it didn’t matter, he wouldn’t leave the house anyway, it was just comfy sleepwear, he thought as he shoved it through his head and moved on to the kitchen to grab his wine.

He almost laughed when he opened the pantry, good thing he was craving alcohol, cause that’s pretty much all he had in. Since he knew he would be traveling for 3 months it made no sense to leave things behind to get expired, so he’d donated everything the day before he left. Everything except for wine, vodka and chocolate. He didn’t look much before he chose a Cabernet Sauvignon, a full body and fruity kind that would make him tipsy real fast.

When he opened the bottle and poured the red liquid on his glass, the strong scent that swirled up from it made him happy before even sipping it, how he was glad to be back home. He took both the glass and the bottle to the sofá, grabbing his phone on his way so he could make a call after he got settled.

He leaned on the back of the couch as he dialed the familiar number, it couldn’t have rung more than once before she picked up, Hakyeon was smiling. “Hey, baby, are you home yet?”

“Hi, mom, yes,” he replied, swirling the wine in the glass before he sipped it.

“Sorry I couldn’t go to the airport, did Taekwoonie had any problems leaving work to pick you up?” she asked, sounding like she was walking away from some screaming children around her.

“No, he moved around some stuff and it was okay,” he lied, there was no way he could know that. “We had lunch and he dropped me off. How did you know he was picking me up?”

“I had brunch with him on Sunday, he told me then.” The mental image had Hakyeon biting his lip to hold in a laughter, Taekwoon and his mom having brunch on a Sunday morning. It must have been her idea, she could be even more headstrong than her son, Taekwoon probably didn’t have it in him to say no to her.

“Oh, okay,” he said and let out a chuckle. “I miss you.” 

“I miss you too, love, but we’re coming back from Jeju the day after tomorrow, so I’ll see you then.” It sounded like the screaming kids had found her.

“How is the school trip going?” Hakyeon laughed, she sighed.

“I’m getting old, Yeonnie,” she replied and he laughed harder, bringing his feet up to rest on the couch cushion.

“That hard, huh?” He sipped his wine again, happy with the choice he’d made.

“No, it’s great, I’m learning a lot,” she said and he raised his brow. “I didn’t think there was any more patience I could exercise after raising you for 27 years, but surprisingly there is.” 

“Students are the future of our nation, mom, you’re shaping minds,” he said ironically, she huffed out a laugh, that was exactly what she meant by him exercising her patience.

“Baby, I have to go, the other teachers need me.”

“That’s okay mom, I just called you to say I’m home and everything is fine,” Hakyeon said, feeling soppy from missing her, it seemed like now he was home he needed to see her even more.

“I love you,” she said in a melodic tone, he smiled.

“Love you too.”

Hakyeon threw his phone on the cushion and turned the tv on some cheesy movie, just something to do as he drank his wine, refilling his glass twice before the sleepiness became too strong. The movie wasn’t over yet, but when he realized he might be dozing off soon holding a crystal glass filled with red wine on his beautiful cream colored couch he decided it was best and go sleep on his bed. He stumbled over his own feet getting up, leaving the bottle and still filled glass on the table and moved on to his bedroom. He caught a glimpse of the clock on the kitchen, 6 pm, he was truly exhausted to be crashing that early.

When he lay down there was little time to appreciate his bed, he put a pillow between his thighs and another covering his face, blocking the light that was still coming in from the window, a small pleased noise coming from his lips when he felt all the muscles of his body relax a little as he drifted off.

\--

Knock knock. But not a common ‘your lovely invited guest is here’ knock knock, but rather an ‘open up or I’ll break this door down’ knock knock.

Knock knock. “Hakyeon, I know you’re in there!” a distant voice called, _what a weird dream_ , he thought. “Hakyeon, I swear to god!”

When a loud noise followed the calling of his name, Hakyeon woke up. His eyes didn’t hurt when he opened them, it was dark already. He could then identify the loud incessant banging was coming from his front door, he felt anger coming up his throat, who walked up to a person’s house like that? The feeling moved him, he kicked his blanket with his feet and got up, stumping out of his bedroom towards the door, turning on the light from the living room and having his eyes shut in response to the aggression. This person was about to see why they named storms after people, hurricane Hakyeon was coming his way.

“What the fuck?” he practically screamed at the door, glancing at the clock and seeing it was 9:30 pm, his rage seemed to get even bigger. “Who the hell comes up to people’s doors like that? Who is it?” His voice was hoarse from being asleep.

“Oh, you _are_ here.” The unfamiliar voice was now speaking lower, compared to the previous screaming he was doing. Hakyeon ran his hand through his bed hair.

“I am, this is my fucking house,” he said annoyed, staring into the door and praying so God would gift him with x-ray vision at that moment so he could see who was on the other side. “And what are you doing here?”

“It’s been 10 days, Hakyeon, we couldn’t get through to you anyway so we dropped by the address on the house papers.” Hakyeon sighed, he wanted to get that over with so he could go back to his comfy, warm bed.

“Who is it?” he asked again, a calmer tone that time, trying to get a hold of himself.

He could hear laughter, made him annoyed again. “Hyunbin and Yeonjung, are you drunk?” it was then when Hakyeon made his first and biggest mistake, but he wasn’t thinking straight yet. He reached for the keys on the table and shoved it in the keyhole, turning and then pulling the door with all his strength.

What he saw when he opened the door were a man and a woman, both looked slightly older than Hakyeon, both completely unknown to him. He saw the expression on their faces change to confusion, which took him to an ever higher anger state.

“So?” Hakyeon said, fists balled on his side waiting for them to say something, explain themselves.

“Who are you?” the woman asked raising her brow, Hakyeon couldn’t believe what he was hearing, someone had just knocked on his door and asked who he is.

“I live here.” When they didn’t say anything, still confused, he spoke again. “You are the ones that should be answering my questions, what do you want?”

“I don’t know who you are,” the man started, Hakyeon bit his tongue as to not scream back at him, “but Hakyeon is in a lot of trouble, if you hide him from us so will you.” He then frowned, processing what they’d said and mirroring their confused expression.

He thought of possible reasons to explain that bizarre situation, maybe there was another Hakyeon in his building, maybe they were crazy, maybe he was way too tired to think of anything else.

“Look, there is some mistake here,” he brought his hand to squeeze his temples, aware of how rude he was being with his theatrical ways. He felt the cold air from the hallway hit his stomach as he did so, the short shirt exposing him more than what he would’ve liked, but that was the last thing on his mind. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, in fact…”

The woman didn’t hear the rest of his sentence, because when her eyes spotted the orange rose that marked Hakyeon’s skin something clicked on her head. Her eyes widened. “You liar.” she pushed the man beside her and stepped forward, pulling something from under her shirt.

Hakyeon stopped speaking not because he’d been interrupted, but because he noticed the woman was holding a gun. And it was pointed right at his face.

Strike three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shit is about to go down... good luck, i'm heartless. i want to know what you think, tell me everything


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heeeey guess who's back. this one is one of my faves i hope you enjoy... don't kill me

There are two types of people in action movies, the ones that freeze at gunpoint and the ones who act like heroes and try to take the gun off the shooter’s hand to save their own life. Hakyeon realized he was neither when he found himself standing at the end of a barrel for the first time, screaming loudly as he took two steps back and fell on his butt on the floor.

“What the fuck, Yeonjung?” he said looking both ways in the hallway before he pulled the woman by her arm inside the house, closing the door behind them. “Have you lost your mind?”

Hakyeon stood up quickly taking a step back before the gun was pointed at him again. His heart seemed to have understood what was happening, suddenly beating so fast in his chest it could punch a hole in his t-shirt. Gun. He felt faint from the sudden rush of blood to his head, so many emotions at once he couldn’t understand the thoughts shooting through his mind. All thoughts but one: Gun.

“The fucking tattoo, it’s a soulmate mark!” she screamed at her partner bringing Hakyeon back to earth. He saw her pushing the man’s hand off her, angry. Suddenly her eyes were back on Hakyeon and it was like time had stopped, fear took over as she practically sprint towards him, pushing his body harshly the wall. “You fucking lied to me! Where is he?” she was screaming again, waving the gun around in his face.

Hakyeon wasn’t exactly frozen, but he didn’t know what to respond, staring back at her with a panicked expression. He had no idea of what was going on, he was beyond terrified and seeming to be making a woman with a gun angrier by the second without knowing why.

“Where is your soulmate?” Hakyeon’s head was so foggy he might as well be falling from an abyss, even if she was screaming right at his face, the voice felt distant.

Soulmate. Gun. Taekwoon. Someone from Taekwoon’s work had found him, the reason why his friend would never share anything from his job was because he thought it would put him in danger. He was right after all, someone had found Hakyeon. He didn’t know how to act, didn’t know what was going on. He stared at the woman in front of him, realizing she was screaming something at him again and he was ignoring it, her bleached hair flying around as she moved.

“Am I speaking Greek?” She stood centimeters from his face, holding Hakyeon by his collar, her breathing fast due to how angry she was. When he didn’t respond again it sent the last bit of her patience to space.

Hakyeon didn’t understand what had happened until right after it did. She had raised the gun and whacked it full force at his face, hitting the top of his cheek and opening a lash on his skin. The blow was so strong his head hit the wall, the pain bringing him back to the moment entirely, he was no longer falling from the abyss, he’d hit the ground. He gasped, feeling the tears that had formed his eyes in response to the aggression blurring his vision.

“The next will be a bullet to your head,” she said through her teeth and a chill went down Hakyeon’s spine, his knees became weak. Yeonjung stepped away from him just enough so she could lower her hand and grab the hem of his shirt, he froze. When she lifted his shirt he fought the urge to push her away, scared of what she might do then. “The rose,” she said pointing at his stomach, Hakyeon took a moment to understand what she’d said.

Soulmate. The rose. Minhyuk. Hakyeon had thought they were some bad people coming at him to find Taekwoon, he had misread the situation completely. The soulmate they were after was Minhyuk. It was like he’d been hit again.

“Minhyuk? You’re after Minhyuk?” He managed to get his firsts words out, his cheek curiously numb rather than painful as he moved his mouth to speak. He could feel the warm blood going down his face.

The woman frowned, letting go of his shirt, his hands immediately pulled it down to cover himself, somewhat relieved. “His name is Hakyeon.”

“No-” His voice broke, he cleared his throat, trying to sound understandable to some level, his hands were shaking on his sides. “That’s me, _I’m_ Hakyeon.”

“Are you fucking with us?” When the man behind her spoke, Hakyeon was reminded he was there. “You’re lying to protect Hakyeon, we can see you have the same mark as he does, but his is-”

“Behind his ear,” Hakyeon finished before he did. “That’s Minhyuk, his name is Minhyuk.” He could feel the stare heavy on his face, they were confused. “My wallet is at the front pocket of that carry-on, check my ID if don’t believe me.”

He counted the seconds he was stared at by the heart beating furiously on his chest, almost crying in relief when the woman in front of him lowered her gun, walked to the table and crouched next to his carry-on, opening the pocket and pulling his wallet from it. She opened it carelessly on the table, shaking it so cards, money and everything else could fall from it. When the ID hit the surface, she threw the now empty wallet on the side and grabbed the document, bringing it close to her face. Her eyes widened.

“Holy shit,” she looked at her partner, he stared back with a confused look on his face. “Cha Hakyeon.” The ID was passed on to his hand so he could see for himself. Hakyeon’s throat felt so dry it was like he’d just eaten a pack of sand.

“So he lied about everything. Did this guy let him use his stuff? Even if he’s his soulmate, that’s a dumb move,” the man said to Yeonjung, Hakyeon was getting more confused by the minute, nothing they said made any sense to him.

The woman sighed and shook her head, seeming to have realized something her partner hadn’t. She swiped her finger on the table surface and showed it to him, he still looked clueless. “My nose is itching from the amount of dust in this house. The carry-on…” Her eyes were back at Hakyeon, his muscles tensed up again. “How long have you been away?”

“3 months,” Hakyeon shuttered, gathering all his courage to continue speaking. “If it’s money you want, take it, I don’t care.” Hyunbin seemed to have reached the same conclusion the woman did, his mouth open in surprise.

“His last bet…” he said looking at her, she nodded. “Shit, that’s rough.”

“What is going on?” Hakyeon asked before he could stop himself and when they both turned to look at him again, he regretted it.

“Hakyeon-” she began, stopping and starting over. Her tone was not comforting, it was cold, hard, she had no problem of breaking the news to him, as she had almost broken the bone on his cheek. “Minhyuk, he used your stuff.”

Hakyeon frowned, more confused the more they seemed to explain to him what was happening. “What stuff?”

She sighed. “Look, this shouldn’t be about you, but Hak- Minhyuk is off the radar so now it is, life is not fair,” she started, Hakyeon still didn’t understand, staring in silence, so she continued. “We thought he was just rich and crazy, raising even if his hand wasn’t good, calling almost everything, we don’t see that all the time, but he is very lucky.” the man behind her huffed out a laugh and nodded. “Our game is a 50 million won buy-in with a 500 million limit, he came the first night and put 200 million on the very first round.”

“Your game?” Hakyeon asked, scared of the answer.

“Poker,” she said and suddenly it all clicked.

It was worse than being hit. “Wait, no…” he said, staring at the floor and bringing his hand to his head, it was like it was spinning, he held it to make it stop. “No, no. What do you mean by he used my stuff? Did he gamble with my money?” His breathing was too fast, he felt his face heat up.

“I’m pretty sure he put in everything you have, he used cards with your name on it, made bank transactions,” the woman said like it was nothing, her expression unchanging as she told him the hard news. “The last game we saw him play, the house wouldn’t let him buy anymore, so he brought a property title-” this brought Hakyeon’s eyes up again, he wanted to disappear to not hear what he knew was coming next. “this place.”

Hakyeon leaned on the wall so he wouldn’t fall down, he was trying to understand the words being said to him, but it was all too much, too fast and Yeonjung didn’t seem to be done yet. His house? How had Minhyuk done that? He’d spent 5 years working nonstop and having most of his paycheck going towards paying his mortgage so he could have his own place and now there was someone telling him he simply didn’t have it anymore? That had to be a sick joke.

“My-” Hakyeon brought his hands to his knees, feeling his throat tighten and making it even harder to breathe. “It’s in my name, you can’t just take my house from me.”

“The contract we have with your signature on it passing the title from your name to ours says differently,” she said and it was like the rest of the air was punched from his lungs, he was sure he hadn’t signed anything and yet they didn’t seem to be lying.

“He had a four of a kind but some guy had a straight flush. He’d gone all in, lost everything.” Hakyeon closed his eyes, trying to not see his life being turned upside down in front of him.

“But that’s not what you should be worrying about, really.” Hakyeon heard the man’s voice and opened his eyes, feeling like the anger coming up his throat and being spit out without him being able to control it.

“You-” he said the words between his shallow breaths. “Asshole. That’s not what I should be worrying about? Are you insane?” Hakyeon seemed to have forgotten all about the gun, all about his life being threatened minutes before. All forgotten when he’d heard what Minhyuk had done. It shouldn’t have.

The man didn’t like what he’d heard, walking at a slow pace towards Hakyeon, watching him the whole way with a calm expression. There was nothing calm about what he did next.

“You should be worrying about-” Suddenly Hakyeon couldn’t breathe, not because he was nervous anymore, but because there was a hand on his neck, squeezing it.

Hakyeon’s own hands went up in a reflex and tried to pull Hyunbin’s hand off him, but it was for nothing, he was not strong enough to push the guy away. Despair took over, fear wasn’t enough to describe what he was feeling, he thought right then he was going to die. Hyunbin seemed to enjoy the struggle, squeezing harder when he heard Hakyeon trying to beg him to stop. His vision began to blurry.

After what felt like an eternity, Hyunbin loosened his grip and Hakyeon fell to the floor immediately, his legs finally giving in. He gasped for air, touching his neck with eyes wide in both surprise and terror.

“-the debt he has with the house, that he left you to pay, you stupid bitch,” he said and Hakyeon didn’t dare to look up, just stared at the wall in front of him, focused on breathing rather than anything else. It seemed like a privilege now. “200 million won.” Hakyeon felt the tears starting to well up in his eyes when he heard the words.

200 million won was more than he made in an entire year, a lot more, and being a pilot pays really well if you are good at it. Which Hakyeon was. He’d just finished paying his house and hadn’t been able to save up much because of it, there was no way he could just take 200 million won off his hat and give it to them.

“I don’t have that money,” he whispered between his shallow breaths, feeling the first tear fall on his cheek, warm as it rolled down.

Hakyeon saw the man crouching next to him from the corner of his eye and tried to back away in a reflex, but there was a wall behind him. Hyunbin’s hand was touching Hakyeon again and he panicked, thinking he would pass out if he was out of air again, feeling weakened. Gladly, that time the man’s hand wasn’t around his neck, but on Hakyeon’s chin, forcing him to look into his eyes. “That’s not my problem.” the man laughed as he stood up again, Hakyeon couldn’t believe a person could be that wicked.

Fear can be paralyzing. When Hakyeon saw Hyunbin raising his foot he thought for sure he would kick him, so he closed his eyes as he waited for it, another warm tear falling on his cheek. But once again the man surprised him, placing the sole of his shoe onto Hakyeon’s stomach and applying an uncomfortable, but still not too strong pressure to it. He didn’t want to hurt Hakyeon that time, he wanted to humiliate him, stepping on him like a roach. “3 months,” he said, putting some of his weight on his foot so his victim would now suffer from it, Hakyeon still had his eyes closed, taking the aggression quietly. “Asshole.”

“You’ll hear from us, after all, we know where you live.” He heard the woman speaking casually from the other side of the room. “I feel bad for you, so you can keep the place until we come to collect. No police, you pay or you die, clear?” After all he’d heard that night he simply took it as it was, nodding without looking up, showing them he’d understood.

Hakyeon heard the sound of someone drinking, long loud gulps, followed by the sound of a bottle being put down on the table, the wine bottle he’d left on the table earlier. Hyunbin had mocked him until the end. Then there were steps going towards the door, the sound of is closing. Then Hakyeon was alone.

Even if he was alone, he wasn’t left in silence, the moment they’d both left the man’s quiet tears evolving into a pain filled weep, then into a loud sob. Hakyeon quickly figured why he hadn’t cried yet over Minhyuk’s disappearance, he was saving all the tears he had for that moment. He cried over the pain of being betrayed, over the fear of being threatened, over the mess his life had become in seconds. The comfortable world he’d known was gone, crushed into dust, he didn’t know if it was possible to put it back together.

A million thought crossed his mind as he cried, he was hopeless. It felt agonizing, the air going in and out of his lungs as if it was scrapping everything off on its way, the noise he was making hurting his throat, it was like he was suffocating again. Hakyeon’s head was throbbing so strongly he thought it was possible for him to slip out of consciousness at any second.

After a few minutes passed he gathered all the strength he had and tried to get on his feet, still feeling the weight of Hyunbin’s foot on his stomach as he did so, not able to stand up straight. When the man raised his eyes, through his teary vision he caught a glimpse of the wine bottle on the table, the one Hyunbin had drunk out of to humiliate him. Without giving a second thought on the consequences Hakyeon grabbed it by its neck and smashed it on the surface, splattering the rest of the wine on the floor, the glass pieces surrounding him. He stumbled on his own feet as he walked back to his room, going straight to the usually locked drawer he had always left his important documents in. It was a confirmation of the nightmare when the drawer opened as he pulled it, the lock that lied inside it broken by brute force, there was no way of noticing from the outside. The usually tidied space was now a mess, papers turned over and an important one missing: his house title. It was true, it was gone. With those in hand, someone could have forged his signature and passed it on to their own name. The thought wounded him.

“My house,” he cried out to himself, the words cut by a sob. One of the things he’d worked most for in his entire life, gone, stolen by someone he thought he could trust.

Trust was something that was easily granted by some, hardly by others. It was not that Hakyeon trusted people too easily, but he thought he could trust someone that the universe had tied him to, they were supposed to be together forever, in sickness and in health. He’d never felt as disgusted by the thought of a person before, turning to the shelf next to his bed that had all the coffee cups Minhyuk had written in for him on display, tears spilling nonstop from his eyes. They were all on the floor a second after, swiped over with his arm, taking all the books that were beside them with it. How stupid had he been to be played like that, he couldn’t believe how vulnerable he’d made himself. When he swallowed back he could feel the pain in his throat, he wasn’t sure if it was from crying or from having had someone almost squeeze the air out of his lungs with his hands.

“I’m- gonna- die, they’re gonna- kill me,” he managed to say between hiccups. It was as if his life was over, he was panicking, he was alone. Except he wasn’t.

Taekwoon. The person he would always turn to, the one that would always help him through anything, the patient, rational, reliable Taekwoon. Also, the one who had a job in the police, that had to be useful. It didn’t feel right to drag his best friend into that mess, but he couldn’t handle that alone, he needed him more than ever. Phone, he needed his phone. Hakyeon dragged himself back to the living room, conscious just enough to avoid the broken shards on his way, walking over to the couch and grabbing the phone he’d left there before he went to sleep. Before it all went to hell. His hands were shaking and the tears were still flooding his eyes, making it hard to type in the number, getting it wrong 3 times before he managed.

It rang too many times before he got a response, making him panic even more. “Shouldn’t you be in-” Taekwoon silenced himself when he heard Hakyeon’s desperate crying from the other side.

“Please help me.”

\--

Taekwoon glanced at his phone, raising his brow but finishing speaking before he could tend to it. “So that’s why he altered mine like that, something about the caliber.” He glanced down at the screen again then back at his boss’ face.

Jisoo was leaning on the wall, one foot resting on it as he held a gun, Taekwoon’s, mainly just playing with it as he listened, his fingers swirling at the end of the barrel as he watched the man speak. Taekwoon and Jaehwan were in front of him, but standing from a comfortable distance, he didn’t like anyone to get too close. Taekwoon felt calm, as he usually did in Jisoo’s presence. Jaehwan felt sweaty, as he usually did in Jisoo’s presence.

“That’s not a big problem, it’s just so he knows we saw it, I don’t want anyone tracking you down, we’ve had enough of that,” Jisoo said with a soft voice, tipping his head to the side slightly when he saw Taekwoon glancing down a third time, his pastel pink fringe falling slightly on his eyes.

Jaehwan nodded. “We gave him a warning already, it’s fine.”

“You always do.” Jisoo chuckled and Jaehwan smiled in a reflex, in moments like that he didn’t look like one of the most skilled killers of Seoul.

Taekwoon glanced down again and gave Jaehwan a pat on the shoulder, warning him he would be left alone for a second with Jisoo as he took the call, he got glared at in response. Jaehwan would always beg him not to do that, but it seemed like it was his personal source of amusement to see his partner so uneasy around Jisoo, he would often find reasons to excuse himself from a conversation and see Jaehwan walking on eggshells. Taekwoon took a few steps, stopping when he couldn’t hear what the pair were talking about, meaning they wouldn’t hear him too.

The black-haired leaned on the wall, watching Jaehwan fidgeting on his feet as he spoke to Jisoo, it never got old. Jaehwan, a visibly taller, very confident and extremely well-spoken guy visibly nervous as he talked to Jisoo, a small built, pink-haired and soft looking guy. He pressed the green button and put the phone on his ear. “Shouldn’t you be in-” he couldn’t finish, noticing how Hakyeon was sobbing, almost grunting as he gasped for air, on the other side.

“Please help me.” The words made Taekwoon’s heart skip a beat, a lot of dark thoughts crossing his mind.

“What happened?” Taekwoon asked, listening as Hakyeon tried to get words out but couldn’t, his heart started to beat fast. “Hakyeon,” he pressed.

“T-they found me.” Taekwoon’s knees felt weak, he put his hand on the wall, leaning on it for support, Jaehwan glanced at him from the other side of the room. The thing he feared most had happened, someone had found his soulmate, he’d left a trail and someone found Hakyeon. “I’m s-so fucked, they told m-me I have to d-deal with it because of t-the soulmate t-thing.” Hakyeon wasn’t able to form complete sentences in his state, but he hoped to be giving Taekwoon enough information so he would understand. He couldn’t have known Taekwoon would get everything twisted. “The g-gun- oh m-my god.” Speaking seemed to be taking a lot of effort so he gave up his sentence and just sobbed.

“Are you hurt?” Taekwoon asked, listening to Hakyeon’s desperate crying and feeling every inch of his body becoming numb, suddenly his fingers felt like they had been dipped on ice.

“Y-yes.” Taekwoon had to hold the phone tight so it wouldn’t fall, his stomach twisted, his mouth dried, he felt all the blood leaving his face.

He regretted all the choices he’d ever made in his life at that very second, someone he loved was suffering because of his personal, irresponsible, selfish and idiotic way of acting. He’d never heard Hakyeon cry that way, his brain pictured an image of how he looked and that sent the remaining blood down from his face.

“Shot?” His voice cracked, he didn’t notice Jaehwan walking over, but there he was, in front of him watching his face with an apprehensive expression. Their eyes met and all Jaehwan could see was concern, terror, fear.

“No.” Taekwoon got no relief from that, he knew not being shot was not equal to being okay. “P-please, I don’t know w-what to do.”

“Where are you?” he asked, focused on keeping his breathing steady so he wouldn’t lose control of himself, maintaining calm was rule one of being a hitman so he had a lot of practice. Well, rule number two, rule number one is don’t get yourself killed.

“Home.” When Taekwoon heard the word he was on the move, he grabbed Jaehwan by the wrist and pulled him roughly towards the hallway, stopping before he could step out of the door when he realized he didn’t have his gun on him.

Jisoo had always been quick on his feet, but when Taekwoon looked back at his boss and he was already walking towards him with the gun grip turned his way he was gladly surprised again. He reached his arm out and took it, not managing to say thank you before he was rushing out again. Jaehwan was right behind him, worried, as he’d never seen Taekwoon turn that pale that fast before, but following his cue without asking questions.

“Have they left?” he asked, remembering to put his gun inside his coat pocket before they stepped out on the street.

Hakyeon seemed to not be able to answer, struggling to breathe, Taekwoon’s guilt increased in the same way his anger did, he couldn’t wait to get his hands on who hurt Hakyeon and make them cry just as hard as he was crying.

“Yes.” Taekwoon was not that surprised, seeing as Hakyeon had been able to call, but it was still felt comforting to hear. It was not his intention to bring Jaehwan in with him, but there may be people waiting for them outside and he needed cover if that were to happen.

Taekwoon hoped Jaehwan and Hakyeon would never have to meet, not only because that would probably be absolute chaos on his ears and sanity, but because if that happened it meant the two parts of his life he struggled to keep apart for so long were finally finding each other. He wanted Hakyeon as far as possible from any illegal shit he did and even if he was now with a partner that was more of a friend than anything, he wanted him as far away as he could from his soulmate too. It was hard for him having to give up 10 years of effort and hiding in one second, but he was not the type to give bad luck a chance. Well, a second chance.

Just as Taekwoon was getting in the driver’s seat he felt Jaehwan’s firm hand on his shoulder. “You can’t drive like this.” Taekwoon covered the phone with his other hand.

“You don’t know where he lives, we’ll take a lot longer if you drive. I’m fine.” Jaehwan didn’t argue, just nodded and went around the car to take the passenger’s seat. Trust was what moved their partnership, if Taekwoon said he could handle it, Jaehwan was in no place to disagree. “I’m going to you,” Taekwoon spoke close to the phone again so hopefully, Hakyeon knew he was being addressed to.

“I-I’m going t-to die, Ta-ekwoonie,” Hakyeon sobbed and Taekwoon bit his lips so strong it almost drew blood, turning the engine on and accelerating to a dangerous starting speed.

“I would never let that happen.” He panicked at how unspecific the sentence had been, was he that hurt or was he just scared? He hoped for the second. “I’m not far from your place, Yeon, breathe.”

It was past 10 pm, meaning there weren’t that many cars on the street and they would get there fast. Very fast, Jaehwan thought, way too fast for his liking. He definitely had never wished for a less-time-to-cross-the-Han-River-in-a-death-car world record, but yet there he was. As they crossed the bridge Jaehwan avoided looking to the side, it would not help to see how high they were, if they fell it would be like a plane making a water landing. Or a submarine sinking fast. Jaehwan did not say a word the whole way, he wouldn’t know what to say anyway.

Taekwoon didn’t know how long he was driving for, it felt like hours with Hakyeon crying on his ear, repeating non stop how scared he was while all he could do is reassure him with his words. A voice in his head kept reminding him the whole way how he was the one to blame for all that was happening, but he tried to divert from it by convincing himself he needed to stay sane to deal with it. Hakyeon seemed calmer after 10 minutes, the sobs were quieter, he could answer his soulmate’s questions without struggling for air, just sniffling and coughing occasionally.

When Taekwoon parked the car he looked around, there was no one on the street that he could see, but he knew that didn’t mean anything.

“I’m here, coming up,” he said, giving the cue he would be turning off the phone. Hakyeon didn’t answer, lost in thought. “Ok?” he asked, trying to bring his soulmate back to earth.

“Ok,” Hakyeon said, turning off the call himself.

“Did you see anything around?” Taekwoon asked Jaehwan before they stepped off the car, putting his hand over the gun in the inner pocket of his coat, making sure it was there.

“No and I don’t think anyone would beat Leo’s soulmate and stick around, Taek, they know you’re coming for them,” Jaehwan reassured him, pretty certain of what he was talking about.

“Yes, I am,” he responded simply, opening the car door and stepping out. There was no other way of accessing the apartments except for the main entrance of the building, that was protected by a code in a digital lock which Taekwoon knew, but raised the question of how the people that got in did.

He made sure to look if Jaehwan was behind him before he let the gate close, crossing the familiar hallway and going straight to the stairs so he wouldn’t lose any time with elevators. When they arrived on the second floor and Taekwoon walked towards Hakyeon’s door his heart was racing, he felt anxious and ashamed to face his soulmate. Jaehwan held his arm.

“Do you want me to stay outside?” he asked, knowing how things would change when he met Hakyeon, when he knew what he looked like and learned about his life. He would respect his friend’s wish if he didn’t want that to happen.

“I trust you,” he responded without looking at his friend, focused on getting at the end of the hall. Jaehwan let go of his arm.

As they came close to the door they both could hear Hakyeon’s quiet crying, Taekwoon felt the blood leaving his face again, the skin on under his mark was so warm it was like it would catch fire. The light from inside the house could be seen from under the door and Taekwoon didn’t bother knocking before turning the doorknob, letting himself in. The first thing he saw when the door opened was a red puddle on the floor, his stomach turned and his mouth dried.

“It’s wine,” Jaehwan said behind him and Taekwoon realized he’d frozen for a moment, then taking one more step into the living room and finally seeing Hakyeon.

The pilot was sitting at the wooden floor, legs close to his chest whilst he looked expressionless at the wall in front of him, tears falling from his eyes. Taekwoon didn’t have time to look at his physical state or analyze how to make a safe approach, when Hakyeon’s swollen eyes found his, he ran across the room and dropped on his knees so he could pull his friend for a hug.

“Oh my god, you scared the shit out of me.” Taekwoon closed his eyes, feeling Hakyeon’s arms tighten around him, fragile body shaking against his. He exhaled deeply, maybe it was relief from finally getting to the apartment, maybe it was gratitude for him looking nothing like the beaten and bruised picture his mind had formed to haunt him on his way there. Hakyeon’s arms were the first to loosen up, not because he wanted to let Taekwoon go, but because there was a sting in his hand that was getting much worse with the pressure he was applying on it. Taekwoon pulled away so they could talk.

The first thing he noticed was the cut on Hakyeon’s cheek, surrounded by red blotches that he was sure were going to turn purple the next day. There was a trail of blood that came out of it, diluted by his tears as it went down and ending up on his shirt collar, tainting the light blue fabric red. Taekwoon placed his hand on the side of his face, lightening the touch when he flinched, cleaning some of the blood with his thumb. The cut itself had not stopped bleeding yet, so soon enough there was already fresh blood emerging from it. Thankfully it didn’t look deep, probably not a knife.

“I’m so sorry,” Taekwoon whispered, feeling the guilt weigh on his shoulders.

“There’s no one else here,” Jaehwan said appearing from behind the wall that led to the rooms and startling Hakyeon before he could respond. He turned his head to watch the unknown man standing on the other side of his living room, his hand reaching for Taekwoon and pulling him closer again in reflex.

“Who are you?” he asked watching Jaehwan with a confused expression, he was so done with unfamiliar people for the day.

“That’s Ken,” Taekwoon said, Jaehwan gave Hakyeon a faint smile, still standing far from the two. Hakyeon’s grip on his soulmate loosened, feeling like he could breathe again, he was still jumpy from everything that had happened.

Hakyeon looked Jaehwan up and down, surprised at how different he was from what he’d pictured. Taekwoon had always described him to his soulmate as a big-nosed, big-headed and skinny-legged guy, which painted a very ugly picture in Hakyeon’s head. Jaehwan did have an expressive face with large features, but somehow that worked on him, the plump lips and big nose made him come off mature but the pointy ears peeking out from the undercut and the brown fringe falling in waves on his eyes softened that look. He was very tall, Hakyeon thought maybe taller than himself, dressed in an extremely oversized hoodie that covered his hands and a light wash skinny jeans. Well, he was definitely not ugly, but Taekwoon had been right about one thing, he did have skinny legs.

“Oh, okay.” Hakyeon sighed loudly in relief, blinking strongly. The light, for some reason, was making his head hurt and feel heavy.

Taekwoon then started to look at Hakyeon up and down to check how bad was his condition, first noticing the wet patch on Hakyeon’s black sweater pants where his hands were resting. He wrapped his fingers lightly around his forearm, pulling his arm up so he could see where all that blood was coming from. The moment his hand touched Hakyeon he whimpered, looking at his own hands too and noticing the cuts for the first time. There were two in his right hand, a superficial one on the palm and a very deep one between his thumb and index finger, he felt nauseated at the sight of the bright red liquid, diverting his eyes from it and back at Taekwoon’s face, who in contrast was watching the cuts very closely and analyzing how bad they were. That explained why there was blood all over his arm and forehead, Hakyeon had been touching himself without realizing he was smudging red all over his body.

“This is a weird place to get a cut, did you try to hold a knife or something?” Taekwoon asked, placing his hand back on his lap.

Hakyeon shook his head, regretting immediately when the movement made him nauseous. “I broke the wine bottle on the table and I think it cut me,” he murmured.

“Ok, that’s okay.” Taekwoon thought he might be trying to use the broken bottle to defend himself, not entertaining the idea of a rage fit. “Can you tell me what happened?” Taekwoon asked but his friend’s eyes watered again, he thought it was best not to push it. “Okay, you don’t have to, let’s get you to the hospital and we’ll talk later.”

“I think I should call Hyuk,” Jaehwan said and Taekwoon looked at him with a confused expression.

“I can just take him to the ER, Jae, it’s not a problem, we could say it was a fall.” _Jae_ , Taekwoon didn’t even notice he’d slipped.

Jaehwan took a step closer, pointing at his own neck as he spoke. “When they take a look at his neck they’ll call the police to file a report.” Taekwoon turned his eyes from his partner back at Hakyeon, almost biting the inside of his cheek off when he saw the red marks around his soulmate’s neck, he knew what those were. “And that cut on his hand looks deep, he needs someone to check it.”

Taekwoon had always been more observant than Jaehwan, since he didn’t waste as much time talking, but he was not in his right mind that night and his partner knew it. Jaehwan lifted his hoodie and untied the knot from the colorful scarf he was using as a belt, pulling it from the loops and giving it to Taekwoon so he could wrap it around Hakyeon’s hand and help stop the bleeding. Hakyeon swallowed dry when he thought he’d seen a knife when Jaehwan reached for the scarf.

“No police,” the older echoed what he’d heard earlier, Taekwoon didn’t need Hakyeon to say those weren’t his own words, that didn’t exactly sound like mister right’s speech.

Taekwoon sighed, giving in. “Call him, if he’s in the library studying we’ll pick him up.” Jaehwan knew his friend trusted Sanghyuk to treat his soulmate over any other doctor, but now Hakyeon would take another step into his hidden life, he wasn’t ready yet. Jaehwan went to the hallway to make the call.

“Who’s in the library?” Hakyeon sniffled, the crying had finally stopped, replaced by a sense of numbness that took over his whole body and made him want to lay on that very floor and just sleep the nightmare away.

“Look,” Taekwoon spoke without looking into his eyes, focusing on folding Jaehwan’s scarf so he could wrap it around Hakyeon’s hand. “I don’t know how much they told you about me, but I know there is a lot we need to talk about.” He didn’t see Hakyeon’s confused frown, still avoiding his eyes. “I’ll answer all your questions after you tell me everything that happened and I won’t lie to you, I promise, you don’t deserve it after what I made you go through today.” His fingers worked delicately around his soulmate’s, trying not to hurt him even more. “I’m really sorry.” He tied the final knot but still couldn’t look up.

Then Hakyeon realized why Taekwoon, someone he knew for over 10 years and was known for staring too much, was avoiding his eyes ever since he got there. He was ashamed.

“Taekwoon, this is not your fault,” Hakyeon said like it was obvious. “What- you expected to have a vision and know Minhyuk would fuck up and people would come for me?” That brought Taekwoon’s eyes up to meet his, there was no trace of mockery in his words and yet what he’d just said made no sense. “No one could’ve known what he did, I’ve told you before, you can’t save everyone, Bond.”

“What?” 

“What?” Hakyeon asked back, not understand why he was so confused.

“The people that came here tonight, they were looking for me.” Taekwoon’s legs started to felt numb from crouching.

“Oh- no, Taekwoon, no.” Hakyeon reacted shaking his hand from one side to another, realizing how his friend had gotten everything mixed up. “You think this is about your secret I-can’t-know-anything-or-I’ll-be-in-danger job?”

“It isn’t?” Taekwoon frowned.

Hakyeon sighed. “They came looking for Minhyuk.”

A few seconds passed by, Taekwoon had just sat on the floor and stared, not sure what to say. Minhyuk was just an ordinary guy, how come he had caused that mess? How come Taekwoon, the part-time hitman, had _not_? “Minhyuk?”

“The reason why he vanished was that he took everything from me,” Hakyeon’s eyes watered again, but he made an effort to hold it in, his head was hurting enough as it was. Taekwoon’s eyes were fixed on his face. “He gambled on my name-”

“He _gambled_?” Taekwoon interrupted, making sure he’d heard right.

Hakyeon nodded. “Sold my house, got into my bank account and made transfers, used my money.” Taekwoon was listening in silence, the mess he had put himself in becoming clearer. That had never been about him. “That’s why he disappeared, he made a huge debt, panicked and ran away like the coward he is.” Taekwoon just stared at him, dumbfounded.

After Hakyeon finished talking Taekwoon couldn’t bring himself to say anything, that’s why he avoided feelings, when they got involved he would always make mistakes, rush into bad decisions. His fear of facing a situation that didn’t even exist made him drag Jaehwan into that equation when he didn’t have to, he felt like an idiot. What made that feeling even worse was that a part of them was relieved that Jaehwan was by his side to support him regardless, that Hakyeon knew now.

“So the collectors tracked you down?” Jaehwan once again startled Hakyeon, who hadn’t heard him coming back to the room.

“Y-yes,” he shuttered, still not used to his presence, thinking about the deadly knife he had under the oversized clothes that gave him cute sweater paws. “Minhyuk transferred my house to their name. Apparently, the document had the address and everything else.” His voice sounded dull, defeated.

Taekwoon knew his expression was conflicted, he was so upset. At the same time he wanted to gut Minhyuk, he knew that would just be hurting his soulmate even more. He knew Hakyeon for 13 years and yet he had no idea on what to say to him, it wasn’t just that he was bad with words, there seemed to be no consolation he could give someone that was tricked by someone they thought loved them.

He then chose to change the subject. “Why were they so rough on you?” Taekwoon broke his silence, watching how the blood coming from Hakyeon’s hands had already seeped through Jaehwan’s fancy scarf. That was ruined forever. “You don’t look dangerous and they had never seen you before, did you fight back? That doesn’t sound like you.”

When the memory of the two came back, a bust of nauseating energy from the mark struck Hakyeon and made him feel lightheaded, forcing him to rest his head on the soft sofa behind him. “I lost my temper and called the guy an asshole,” he said with a weak voice.

Jaehwan laughed, Taekwoon turned his eyes. “That sounds like you.”

Hakyeon nodded and closed his eyes, the energy blasting from the mark on his stomach now so strong he was starting to feel like he was actually going to throw up. Taekwoon noticed the sweat forming a thin layer on his soulmate’s forehead, diluting the blood Hakyeon had accidentally smudged there.

Taekwoon glanced at Jaehwan then started to stand up. “Ok, I think you’re calm enough that we can go, right?” he touched his soulmate’s arm as he said the last word, since he was so still it was like he’d fallen asleep. Hakyeon fluttered his eyes open, nodding and placing one hand on the floor to help himself up.

Hakyeon didn’t have the chance to use his strength to stand up, before he could even try both men had placed their hands on him, Taekwoon’s arm on the curve of his waist and Jaehwan’s firmly around his shoulders. It helped that he weighed as much as a teenager, but the speed that he got up was too much on his stomach.

“Oh god, I’m gonna be sick,” he whispered, seeing black spots blocking his vision.

Hakyeon felt dizzy out of his mind, it was all too much, the stress, the pain, the waves of energy coming from the mark that bonded him to Minhyuk. He felt his knees weaken, when one of the hands suddenly let go of him he gasped and leaned on the other completely, feeling the firm touch lower from his shoulders to his waist, pulling him close to his body and making sure he wouldn’t fall. “I’ve got you.” He heard the voice saying next to his ear and realized the one that had his arm around his waist was Jaehwan.

Taekwoon rushed to Hakyeon’s coat hanger and grabbed one that he thought would cover most of his blood-stained clothes, grabbing the house keys on the way back.

“Thanks,” Hakyeon murmured focusing on regaining his balance so he could stand alone, the pain in his stomach forcing him to stay slightly curved. “Barbie is very lucky to have you,” he finished, Jaehwan took a few seconds to realize that had been a joke, loosening his grip when Hakyeon seemed to be doing better.

Taekwoon snorted, throwing the coat over his shoulders and helping him to slide his arms in. “You’re impossible, what will it take for you to lose your sense of humor?”

Hakyeon gave him a faint smile. “A lot more than a half-assed beating.” Taekwoon swiped the palm of his hand on Hakyeon’s forehead, cleaning the smudged blood so he wouldn’t attract attention when then went out. When Taekwoon moved to slide his hands around Hakyeon again he shook his head, he didn’t want anyone touching him when he felt that nauseous. “I’m fine, let’s go.”

Taekwoon nodded and opened the door, letting Jaehwan go out first and standing beside Hakyeon as he walked slowly towards the elevator. They remained in silence, Hakyeon tried to focus on walking and not puking rather than his wreck of a life, some part of him still hoped that was a messed up dream and he would soon wake up. When he stepped into the elevator and caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror he realized that was not happening.

Hakyeon didn’t know where Jaehwan was driving to, he didn’t care too much, to be honest, he just looked at the city lights from the car window. When Jaehwan took a left turn Taekwoon looked at him from the passenger’s seat.

“He’s not at uni?” Taekwoon asked. Hakyeon turned his eyes to watch him.

Jaehwan shook his head. “He was at the hole,” he began, using the nickname they used for Sanghyuk’s workplace, since his office was on the basement floor. “but I told him to go home and we would go meet him, if anyone got there to be patched up whilst _we_ were there Hakyeon could be dragged into something.”

“Thank you,” Taekwoon replied and Jaehwan shook his head. “Isn’t his annoying roommate there?”

“No, he moved out, Hyuk didn’t tell you?” When Taekwoon shook his head he continued, “he stole Hyuk’s prescription pad to buy Adderall and Provigil, faked his signature and everything, Hyuk found out last week and kicked him out.”

Taekwoon turned his eyes. “College kids. Was Hyuk too mad?”

Jaehwan sighed. “As mad as he can get, you know him, he’s too calm for his own good. Hyuk’s like you, nothing gets under his skin.” Taekwoon pouted, nodding in agreement after.

Hakyeon was just listening in silence, something very unusual for him, but he had so many questions to ask he wouldn’t know where to start. He looked down at his hands, the scarf had not been enough to hold in the blood, that started to drip on his coat. Hakyeon swallowed dry, bringing his eyes up and looking out of the window so he wouldn’t have to see that again. Everything seemed so surreal, it was like walking on a cloud, everything was numb and he felt exhausted.

When they got to a friendly-looking neighborhood Jaehwan pulled up the car next to a small building, Taekwoon got off first and went to help Hakyeon. He was dizzy, dirty and sticky from the blood that was drying around his cheek and everywhere else he’d put his hands over, he wanted to lay down literally anywhere he could and just sleep.

Jaehwan didn’t have to knock more than once before Hyuk opened the door, locking his eyes on Hakyeon and scanning him from his head to his feet. Hakyeon thought he couldn’t get any more surprised that evening, but Hyuk, the doctor -from what he’d picked up- looked like a kid. A very tall kid. And had bright blue hair.

“I was getting worried, you guys took a while,” he said stepping aside so they could enter.

Taekwoon patted Hakyeon on the back as a form of reassurance, but when he leaned into the touch the hand stayed there. “He drove.” Taekwoon motioned his head towards Jaehwan.

“Ah-” Sanghyuk nodded, as if that had cleared the subject up. His eyes returned to Hakyeon and he spoke in a softer tone. “Can I take a look at that?” he asked, motioning to his hand. When Hakyeon looked down he could see that his blood was dripping on the floor.

When Sanghyuk walked over to a nearby table, Hakyeon saw the boy had already left a bunch of things that seemed to have come from a first aid kit separate. And some that didn’t, like a collection of small vials and syringes. It dawned on him this 20-something-year-old was about to examine him. He stared at Taekwoon.

“I know,” Taekwoon responded as if he’d read his soulmate’s thoughts. “But trust me." Hakyeon didn’t look happy about it but took a deep breath and sat on the chair in front of the boy, who had both of his big legs crossed on top of it. _He is so young,_ the older thought, that’s how he used to sit when he was at school.

When Hakyeon sat down, Sanghyuk put in two rubber gloves he’d also left separate on the side and took Hakyeon’s hand on his own. He untied the knot with not much of a problem, removing the scarf slowly and revealing the deep cut, Hakyeon bit his lip to hold in a whimper. Sanghyuk grabbed a gauze and started to clean around it so he could see it better, his hands were so delicate Hakyeon didn’t feel pain from it, just the sting from the alcohol he’d put in to sterilize the area. The reason why the cut hadn’t stop bleeding was simply because it was too deep and the area held a very big artery, Sanghyuk knew he had to stop the bleeding himself.

“Okay,” he mumbled, looking up to Hakyeon’s eyes. “I’ll need to stitch it.” The look on Hakyeon’s face must have been of terror, because he continued talking right after. “But you won’t feel anything, I’ll numb around it.” The older swallowed loudly but didn’t pull his hand away.

“I’m terrified of needles,” he said with a tone that suggested that due to that fact the boy shouldn’t use one on him, Sanghyuk smiled.

“You fly planes and you’re scared of this tiny thing?” he asked pointing to the tray where it was then grabbing it, Hakyeon nodded, not even questioning how the boy knew about his job.

“Flying planes is surprisingly easy.” He watched as the younger placed a thin black thread on a small metal hook-looking thing, he felt stupid for thinking they used actual needles to stitch up wounds. “But- have you done this before?” he asked in almost a whisper tone, Sanghyuk laughed.

So many times he’d lost count. “I promise you I have.” When Hakyeon saw him grabbing a syringe he closed his eyes in a reflex, his head dropped on the back of the chair. He felt a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently.

“He knows what he’s doing.” Taekwoon sounded like he was holding in a laughter.

“Ah-” he complained when he felt a pinch on his hand, then it went away and he felt nothing else. “He’s thirteen, Taekwoon.” Jaehwan laughed from the other side of the room.

Sanghyuk took the opportunity since Hakyeon had his eyes closed and silently grabbed and pierced the needle through his skin. He glanced up at the older’s face to check, but as expected, got no reaction since he had already numbed the area. He tied a small knot at one end of the cut and started the suture, using a technique he’d perfected in the pediatric internship he’d done a year before, it was quicker so the kids wouldn’t complain. It consisted of doing a continuous loop around the wound rather than individual knots, which made it possible for him to finish in less than a minute, Hakyeon still thinking he was waiting for the numbing to kick in.

The older sighed. “I’m sorry I said you were thirteen can you stop poking it and just do it already-” When Hakyeon opened his eyes and looked at his hands he saw Sanghyuk tying the final knot, the cut already closed by 4 perfectly spaced loops. He put the needle holder down and cut the excess thread with scissors, looking up at Hakyeon after. “So you have done this before.”

Sanghyuk smiled. “Ever since I was 17.” He grabbed more gauze, standing up and leaning over him slightly so he could clean the cut on his cheek.

With their faces that close Hakyeon could see the boy couldn’t possibly have been born before the year of 1993. He didn’t have baby fat filling his face or cheeks, quite the contrary, his jawline was very defined and sharp, but his eyes were raised at the corners, his eyelashes long and his cupid’s bow very round framing his lips, cutely pouted as he concentrated.

Hakyeon frowned, that didn’t make any sense to him. “17? That’s like two years ago for you.” Sanghyuk giggled, he liked him already. “Are your parents doctors or something?” Jaehwan and Taekwoon exchanged looks, Hakyeon didn’t see, continuing to speak with a casual tone. “That’s too young to go around stitching people up.”

“My parents were lawyers,” he said reaching over the table to grab some strips to put over the now clean cut on the older’s face and hold it shut. Hakyeon silenced himself immediately. “I got into medical school when I was 16, doesn’t take more than a year for us to start having classes at the hospital. I’ve graduated almost 3 years ago, so loads of practice.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Hakyeon said, not managing to look into his eyes even though he was so close. “But that’s amazing, I’ve never seen anyone graduate medicine that young.” He changed the subject.

“Thank you,” he said putting the final strip and sitting again, giving him a faint smile before he could continue. “Is there anything else I can’t see?” he asked, referring to cuts.

“No cuts just-” he placed his hand on his stomach, “hurts a bit here and on my head.”

“Did you hit your head?” Sanghyuk asked.

“I think I did, maybe twice.” Hakyeon tried to remember, the hand on his shoulder tightened.

Hyuk brought his chair closer to the older. “Do you feel nauseous?”

“God, yes,” he replied immediately, strangely comfortable with the younger. “I feel so dizzy, my head hurts a lot.”

“Back at his place we had to hold him so he wouldn’t fall, he looked out of it,” Taekwoon said from behind him, reminding Sanghyuk of a concerned parent.

 _Concussions don’t appear that fast._ “Hm, okay- so, what I’ll do is I’ll hold this finger up,” he raised his index finger in front of him. “And I’ll move it from side to side, you keep your head still and follow it with just your eyes, got it?” When Hakyeon nodded he started to move his finger from one side to the other, the older couldn’t keep up for more than 5 seconds.

“I’m gonna throw up.” He lowered his head, drying the tears that had appeared on his eyes. _Yep, that’s a concussion._

“It’s too early to say, so tomorrow I’ll check again, but I think you might have a concussion,” he said with a soft voice and Hakyeon just nodded, trying to focus on not throwing up. “You need to rest, Hakyeon.”

“I can’t work, right?” Hakyeon murmured, looking back up at him after a moment.

“Flying? Absolutely not.” The answer was what he expected, but it was still horrible to hear, he felt more screwed than ever.

“Taekwoon,” Hakyeon said with a weak voice, Taekwoon squeezed his shoulder, showing he was listening. “How will I make the money to pay the debt if I can’t work?”

Sanghyuk frowned, what Jaehwan had told him was someone from the streets had tracked him down. He glanced at his soulmate, who motioned him to come sit next to him on the couch so he could explain everything that had happened. When Sanghyuk got up from the chair and left, Taekwoon took his place, watching Hakyeon up close.

“I told you I would help you figure this out,” Taekwoon said watching the top of his soulmate’s head, since he was still looking down. He didn’t respond for a while, Taekwoon waited until he wanted to.

“I don’t think you can, Taek,” he murmured, thinking about the amount he owed. He knew Taekwoon’s secret job paid well, he lived in a huge house and had a very nice car, but that was the point exactly, that was where Taekwoon’s money was at.

“Did they tell you how much is the debt?” Hakyeon nodded, clearing his throat as he looked at his friend.

He sighed. “200 million won.”

Taekwoon bit his bottom lip, blinking as he stared at Hakyeon for a sign of that being a joke. Sanghyuk and Jaehwan stared at him from the other side of the room.

“200 million won,” Taekwoon repeated, Hakyeon sighed again. “Plus your house and your savings, that’s what, 700, 800 million won he gambled?” Taekwoon felt the rage coming up his throat, he brushed his hand on his hair, the fringe falling on his eyes right after.

“They’ll kill me,” Hakyeon said bluntly, Taekwoon glared at him in response.

“No, no they won’t.” Taekwoon put his hand on his friend’s knee, Hakyeon looked up at him. “They won’t,” he repeated. A promise.

“There is something, Taek, Jisoo told me about last week,” said Jaehwan to him, “it’s a big job, but it’s a lot of money too, a lot,” he emphasized, Taekwoon raised his brow. “They asked for us specifically. I said no because I know you wouldn’t agree with it, but you could still talk to him.”

“Why don’t you just go after them?” Sanghyuk asked bringing both his feet up on the couch. “I mean, I wouldn’t want to be on the golden duo’s way, or whatever they call you.” Hakyeon wasn’t sure of what he meant, but that seemed to make sense to Jaehwan next to him moving excitedly. “No one wants to be on your blacklist.”

“We could,” Jaehwan said like that was the best idea he’d ever heard, they could just go after them and scare the shit out of them, that would solve it. “Did they tell you who they were?” Jaehwan asked Hakyeon, standing up and walking closer to the two sitting at the table.

Hakyeon tried to remember, they hadn’t mentioned any names other than their owns. “They didn’t say the name of their casino or anything, but I heard their names…” the memory was vivid in his mind. “Hyunbin and Yeonjung.”

It was not uncommon for people to recognize each other by names on the streets unless they chose to go under fake names, which most people did. Jaehwan and Taekwoon knew well who those two were, a pair of disgusting newcomers, making their name fast considering how greedy they were. The faster you rise the harder you fall, Jisoo always reminded them.

Taekwoon’s expression hardened, Jaehwan started to laugh. A fake laugh, with no emotion. “We can’t,” he said after the weird noise stopped coming from his lips, Hakyeon looked at him with a curious expression.

“Was she blond, kind of chubby, short?” Taekwoon asked and when Hakyeon nodded he sighed. The problem just seemed to be getting bigger by the minute.

“How the fuck did an ordinary guy got into that deep shit?” Jaehwan asked looking at Taekwoon, Hakyeon was even more confused.

Taekwoon shook his head. “I don’t know, but if we go to them-” _that would be an even bigger mess_ , he would have finished if he had the chance.

Jaehwan interrupted, surprised he would even entertain the possibility. “Are you insane? Remember Jisoo’s first rule, we can’t mess with anyone from women or children trafficking.” Hakyeon’s eyes widened. “We don’t want to get mixed with that, we can’t kill them, we don’t want enemies there, no.”

“W-what?” Hakyeon shuttered and Jaehwan looked at him, expression softening from the frown, Taekwoon didn’t have the talk with him yet.

Taekwoon sighed, looking at his loose-mouthed partner. There was not a trace of anger in his face, just his saint-like patience. “Would I put us in danger like that? You know me better than that, Jae,” he told Jaehwan with a soft tone, aware of the use of his name but he didn’t care anymore. Jaehwan seemed sorry to have said anything.

“Kill them?” Hakyeon asked with a shaky voice.

Taekwoon turned his eyes back to Hakyeon, who had a terrified expression in his face. “I don’t want you to get involved in this,” he said as if it was that simple and watched as his friend’s expression unexpectedly turn to anger.

“You don’t… Jung Taekwoon.” He turned his eyes, exhaling loudly. “I think you’re forgetting this is my life. I’m the one who got robbed and lied to. You don’t want me to get _involved_?” He tried to keep his voice down, but his tone was filled with rage. “You told me earlier you wouldn’t lie to me anymore-” he raised his fingers to silence his friend, who was getting ready to respond. “I don’t care what you thought you knew back then! I’m so tired of everyone treating me like I’m a child!” He got up from his chair, aware of the two strangers tracking his movements from the corner of the room, but keeping his focus at his soulmate. “My whole life was turned upside down, _my life!_ This has everything to do with me.” Taekwoon didn’t alter his tone to answer.

“I know, Hakyeon, but I cannot drag you inside my job, it’s too dangerous. If I’m gonna fix this I have to do this on my own,” he replied looking at the one standing, that was obvious to him.

Hakyeon turned his eyes again. “You’re an idiot, you think by lying to me you’re protecting me?” His voice was high-pitched and annoyed. “I’ve had a person point a gun at my head today, Woonie, can’t get any more dangerous than that.” He sighed, reaching over the table with his good hand and grabbing his friend’s arm in a rough manner, wrapping his whole hand around Taekwoon’s wrist.“ _This_ ties me to you,” he looked deep into his soulmate’s eyes, feeling the tingle of the mark below his fingers. “Forever. I will always stand by you, _this_ means you never have to do anything alone, you have me.” He let go of his hand, that fell on the table with a loud noise. “You lie to me because you want to, because _you know_ I will stand by your side regardless of your secrets.” _You won’t,_ the voice in Taekwoon’s head replied.

“Is this about me lying to you or about me not wanting your help?” Taekwoon laughed, it seemed like Hakyeon was just throwing all of his repressed anger on top of him at once, all the frustration of being lied to by everyone. What Hakyeon failed to understand was that talking about it was hard for him too.

“Both!” He brought his hand to his head, at that point he’d forgotten there was anyone else in the room other than the two. “I’m so tired of being lied to. I’m allowed to get calls because Ken gets hurt and you can’t sleep over it, but I can’t know how or why?” Jaehwan raised his brow from the corner of the room. “Suddenly you’re in Japan for work but I can’t know why you came back with a broken rib and a black eye. Aren’t you tired of lying to me?” he asked, his voice broke at the end, he felt so defeated. Wasn’t everyone tired of lying to him?

“Yes!” Taekwoon’s voice raised too, but came back to a normal volume before he continued. He exhaled loudly. “I don’t know why you want to talk about this now of all times, you haven’t slept properly for like 3 months, all this mess happened tonight. I just-”

Hakyeon didn’t care for good timing, he wanted answers. “So stop lying, I can handle it,” he interrupted again. He was no child, whatever dangerous thing Taekwoon did, he could try to understand it, he could take care of himself if he had to. He was not weak.

Taekwoon thought about for a second. “It’s not just putting you in danger, Yeon, I know you care about me, but this-” he pointed to Jaehwan than back at himself, “might be too much for you to wrap your head around.”

Hakyeon shook his head no. “I can handle it,” he repeated.

Taekwoon looked at him, his best friend, the person who had been around his life for the longest time. He used the speech of not telling Hakyeon because he needed to protect him, which was true, but the fear of losing him over judgment was bigger. He knew Hakyeon better than anyone, he was a righteous man, someone who would never agree with the things he did. His heart skipped a beat when he realized his mind was already set on telling him the truth anyway, he was tired of hiding it. Taekwoon swallowed dry.

“Sit,” he said simply, Hakyeon did as he was told for once in his life. “Go ahead.” He took a deep breath. Sanghyuk and Jaehwan were quiet as clams on the other side of the room.

“Do you work for the government?” Hakyeon asked first, Taekwoon shook his head no. “Who do you work for?”

Taekwoon looked at him as he responded. “I used to work for myself.” That was true for a long time, from around the time he was 17 until about 22 he did things by himself. “But that’s too dangerous nowadays, so I work for a guy named Jisoo. His name is powerful and gives us extra cover. He was the one that introduced me to Jae.” Hakyeon nodded understanding, glad he seemed to not be lying for a change.

“Like underground stuff? You go after bad guys.” Taekwoon nodded, he wasn’t totally off.

“Like illegal stuff,” he clarified.

“What does Jisoo asks you to do?” Taekwoon’s heart started to race.

He licked his dry lips. “Make sure no one gets in his way,” he answered but knew that wouldn’t be enough. “Anything from handling drug dealers to mobs. If I want to go solo I can also use his name as assurance.” Meaning: _If I get an outside job to take out anyone on request I can, if I need to, make it so people track the kill back to Jisoo and they don’t want to retaliate._

“How do you make sure of that?”

Taekwoon thought about how to put it. “By being feared. Making your name known, no one in their right minds messes with us, they’re too scared.”

“So you’ve killed again.” The affirmation was so innocent, Hakyeon was so oblivious to the proportion of the tear on his soul. He couldn’t bring himself to answer, so he just nodded. “Oh, Taekwoon…” the disappointed tone hit him like a wall of bricks. “How many?” Taekwoon he lowered his head, he couldn’t face Hakyeon anymore.

That was a number that never stopped growing, but he made sure to never lose track of it. “466,” he murmured under his breath, still looking at his own hands.

“Why do you do it?” Taekwoon couldn’t see his face, but he wished to have the courage to peek and check if he already looked disgusted.

“I don’t know,” Taekwoon answered and just like that he slipped back into lying.

Hakyeon shook head even though he couldn't see it. “That’s bull. Why do you do it?” he pressed.

“That’s all I’ve ever known, Hakyeon. My parents went down a similar path, it was natural for me to-” he was interrupted by a firm hand on his chin, bringing his head up and making their eyes meet. Hakyeon’s grip was not enough to hurt him and if he wanted to he could brush it off, but he did no such thing.

“Third try, why do you do it?” Hakyeon kept his hand on Taekwoon’s chin, making sure he wouldn’t look anywhere else but his eyes.

Jaehwan and Sanghyuk were staring amazed, they had never seen anyone dare to talk to Taekwoon like that, made him act like that. Like he didn’t have control over the situation, over himself, over everything.

“When I went looking for a gun to kill my uncle after-” He stopped and swallowed dry, Hakyeon knew, he didn’t have to say it. “The people I bought it from liked me and took me in, I had no one else, one thing led to another. He was the first, I just didn’t stop after.” His breathing was altered, like talking about it took physical effort.

Sanghyuk and Jaehwan didn’t know about the beginning, nobody other than Hakyeon knew about the beginning. Hakyeon, even as a 16-year-old kid, chose to stand by him when his life was shattered. He went to all court trials, cried when Taekwoon plead guilty before a judge, was not afraid to stick by him after he got released on community service for being a minor. Hakyeon believed even after everything, he had something good inside of him, didn’t let Taekwoon push him away, he knew how needed he was in his life.

Hakyeon waited until Taekwoon was finished, loosening the grip on his chin and letting the hand fall to his shoulder. “I don’t support this, it’s wrong and you deserve so much better,” Hakyeon said with a hard tone, Taekwoon nodded. “But I love you no less because of it.” Taekwoon’s eyes watered, he lowered his head again.

_The judge had asked for recess time, so a lot of people were standing and talking, Hakyeon took the time to go to Taekwoon, he was the only person that went there to see him, anyway.“You shouldn’t be here, Yeonie, if anyone sees you-” Taekwoon sniffled, looking around the big courtroom._

_“I don’t care, I couldn’t let you do this alone_ , _” Hakyeon said like he’d made the decision and would face no consequences, but in fact, his mother had no idea he was not at school._

_“You should stay away from me, I keep telling you but you don’t fucking listen, you never listen,” the young boy said, tears spilling from his eyes, the people standing close to them turned to see what was the teen fight about. “They're gonna lock me up anyway, you heard me, I told them he deserved to die for what he did.” He didn’t regret his words, but he knew a jury couldn’t possibly favor him after hearing that. “Now I deserve to die for what I did too, there is no good in me.”_

_“What you did was wrong, very wrong, but you were trying to protect Nayoung, that doesn’t make you an evil person. He was the evil one, I see that and they’ll see it too.” Hakyeon took a step closer to his soulmate. “Taekwoon, I know you-”_  
  
_He interrupted, “if you know me, if you truly know me, then why are you still here?” Taekwoon looked up, his eyes were red from crying. Hakyeon saw a scared kid, just like he was, staring back at him. “Why don’t you leave? Everything around me dies, I keep telling you there is nothing good you can get from standing by my side.”_

_“I don’t agree with what you’ve done, it’s wrong and you should regret it” Hakyeon reached over and placed a hand on Taekwoon’s damp cheek, the boy cried harder. “But I love you no less because of it.”_

That’s why he always thought he didn’t deserve Hakyeon, he took all in just like that, with a disguised ‘I will love you no matter what’, just like he did the first time. Taekwoon felt like he was proving what he’d said back then, he was not worth the struggle, but now he couldn’t afford to let Hakyeon go. Taekwoon took a deep breath to keep the tears in. How Hakyeon had managed to make anything on that night about him was beyond his understanding, but what Hakyeon wants, Hakyeon gets.

“I’ll fix this,” Taekwoon said.

Hakyeon reached for Taekwoon's hand and nodded. _We'll fix this._

\--

“Are you sure it’s okay?” Taekwoon asked Sanghyuk for the third time that night.

Sanghyuk nodded, taking a sip of his beer. “Just let him sleep, it’s good so I take a look at him in the morning.”

Hakyeon had fallen asleep on the couch as Taekwoon was helping Sanghyuk and Jaehwan clean things up so they could go back to his place and the younger insisted to just let him rest. Taekwoon carried him to the room that belonged to Hyuk’s thief ex-roommate and put him on the bed, he didn’t even move, out cold.

It was past midnight, after the house was clean from all traces of blood and Jaehwan’s scarf was hanging to dry after he washed it -it was now stained all over with a shade of brown- they sat together in the living room floor to chat, surrounded by the cushions they’d pulled from the couch.

“How are you doing?” Jaehwan asked Taekwoon, who was going through a whole bar of chocolate as he watched his friends drink. He needed sugar more than he needed alcohol.

“Worried,” he replied, biting into another square, swirling the chocolate on his tongue before he continued. “He kept making jokes, turning the focus to me, that’s because he doesn’t know how to deal with it.”

“I think he is doing fine, it’s a lot to take in, Taek,” Jaehwan replied, drinking a sip directly from his soju bottle. “Give him time.”

“I know,” Taekwoon stretched his legs on the floor, “he’s very strong, but his heart is always in everything he does- this will be so hard for him… I still cannot believe a soulmate could do that.” He thought it over a lot of times, he couldn’t imagine doing anything like it to Hakyeon. Or to anyone.

Jaehwan shook his head. “I couldn’t believe it too, the romantic connection is supposed to be even stronger than the platonic because of the pull.” He grabbed Taekwoon’s heavy legs and put it on top of his lap, resting his hands on his thighs, the older didn’t seem to care, used to it by then. “Isn’t it painful to fight it?”

“You only get the pull when you get involved, Jae,” Sanghyuk clarified, knowing the most from the subject since that when he took interest in something he would often read a whole lot about it. “I doubt Minhyuk loved him, there is no pull to keep two soulmates that don’t love each other yet together.” The brown-haired frowned.

“But some people get the pull as soon as they get marked, how does that work then?” he argued, he’d heard some stories like that.

Taekwoon shoved the rest of the square in his mouth before it melted on his fingers. “Probably because they fell in love before they actually touched.” Jaehwan raised his brow, for someone as touchy as him that seemed unrealistic, to be at the point of love without having even hugged the person, kissed them.

“I know that doesn’t make sense to you, human sloth,” Sanghyuk teased, “but normal people don’t necessarily need to cling to others to get their point across.” He motioned his head to Jaehwan’s hands, sprawled across Taekwoon’s thighs.

“Are you jealous, sweetheart?” Jaehwan spoke with a cute voice, Sanghyuk scooched away just in case he tried to reach to him.

“Very,” Sanghyuk replied, moving even further to prove his point. “Oh, Taek, that reminds me, I need to tell you something.” He bit his lip. That would be a good time as any.

He looked at the younger. “Go ahead.” Taekwoon took the last row of the chocolate bar to eat, analyzing if he could already pull himself away from Jaehwan without him complaining. Probably not.

“Ok.” Sanghyuk exhaled loudly, both his friends looked at him confused, Jaehwan didn’t know what he was talking about too. “I’m not 100% sure yet,” he put stress on that fact, “but I think this new vision is about you.”

Taekwoon thought about it for a second, Sanghyuk’s visions never turned out to be something good. “You think?”

Sanghyuk bit his lip again. “Yes, I mean-” He tried to think of a good way of explaining it. “You know when you’re in that state between sleeping and being awake? When everything feels weird, nothing feels real, like walking on a cloud?” he asked.

Taekwoon nodded, frowning. “Kind of.”

“It’s like that, it feels like you but something is- off.” Sanghyuk saw Taekwoon raising his brow. “Maybe I need more time to be sure, but right now it’s too familiar to _not_ be you.”

“Okay, that’s fine, if it’s still this confusing, there is a lot of time until it happens,” he pointed out, the younger nodded. “What else do you know?”

“I’ve told Jae this, I thought it had something to do with fire-” he said, Jaehwan remembered the night he’d seen Sanghyuk having the vision. “But it’s not actual flames, it’s something that gives off a burning feeling… Like envy, rage- or jealousy,” he pointed out why he remembered to tell him in the first place. “But it’s strong, consuming, I’ve personally never seen you show off anything like that.” Jaehwan hadn’t either, Taekwoon was normally very put together. “Even today when I could feel things like your shame and worry, your energy was still balanced, you were controlled enough to push your frustration down,” he said and Taekwoon was pretty sure he looked surprised, that was exactly what had happened.

Taekwoon didn’t know if it was because the boy knew him well or he was just really gifted, but he never missed on a reading. Sanghyuk could read him like a book, that was really unsettling.

“Maybe this is something that it’s going to destabilize you-” he said and Taekwoon thought about what the hell could make him lose his cool if not his soulmate being in danger. “I don’t know.” The boy seemed confused himself. “But I thought I should tell you,” he finished.

Taekwoon smiled at him. “That’s okay, you’ll keep me updated.” Sanghyuk nodded, the serious face he had on making it clear how he hated the situation. “Jae, the job you’ve mentioned earlier, the one you said no to.” He changed the subject so Sanghyuk wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. “Why didn’t you even talk to me about it?”

Jaehwan’s fingers were pulling on the ripped part of Taekwoon’s jeans, distracting himself as he spoke. “I know pretty well what your limits are.” He smiled faintly, he might not know everything about Taekwoon’s past, but he knew it reflected directly on his current decisions. “You wouldn’t normally want anything to do with this job, but now things changed a bit,” he used an ironic tone, Taekwoon scoffed. “You should talk to Jisoo and let him explain everything, I don’t know much about it, anyway.”

“Ok,” Taekwoon agreed, he would do that on some day that week, he couldn’t handle anything else that night. “I hope to God I never see Minhyuk again,” Taekwoon licked his index finger clean after he put the final piece of chocolate in his mouth. “I might kill him,” he said more figuratively than anything but wasn’t sure his friends would understand it that way. He heard of how painful death was for the other soulmate, when they started to get close to dying the other would feel everything. He was glad platonic soulmates didn’t have that feature, he couldn’t have Hakyeon feeling the occasional bullet he would take on the job.

“I doubt he is ever coming out from wherever he’s hiding,” Sanghyuk laid on the ground, head resting on a cushion, “if he’s not a _complete_ idiot, he saved some of the money and left the city so he wouldn’t even have the possibility of crossing Hakyeon on the street.”

“This is so fucked up, he doesn’t deserve this,” Taekwoon murmured more to himself than to the others, his friends gave him sympathetic looks.

“He’s lucky he has you, Taek,” Sanghyuk said. “When all went down you were the first person he thought to call, can you imagine his family being dragged into this?” Taekwoon shook his head, Hakyeon’s mother would probably have a heart attack.

“That’s a lot of trust.” When Jaehwan put his finger inside the ripped part of Taekwoon’s jeans he pulled away, slapping his hand. The brown-haired continued with a smile on his lips. “It’s clear how much he cares about you.”

“Oh, yeah-” Sanghyuk agreed immediately, “he let a thirteen-year-old stitch him up cause you told him it was okay.” He had a playful smirk on his face.

Taekwoon laughed, looking at the younger. “I’m sorry about that, by the way,” Sanghyuk shook his head, he didn’t mind it. “But he is just like Jaehwan, talks too much.”

“With that face and a personality like mine?” Jaehwan said ignoring the last part, Taekwoon raised his brow. “He _is_ perfect.” Sanghyuk chuckled.

“With his face, I can agree, but a personality like yours?” Sanghyuk teased, Jaehwan tried to reach to him, he pulled away again. “Whoa, you truly are your biggest fan.”

“I have to be since my best friends are dicks.” Jaehwan took another sip of his beer, shrugging his shoulders.

Taekwoon and Sanghyuk exchanged looks, already preparing to get away from his coming revenge. “Who told you we’re friends?” Sanghyuk asked, getting up fast so Jaehwan wouldn’t catch him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... bet you didn't see that coming. I'M SORRY I HURT HAKYEON he doesn't deserve it. i know a lot happens in this one, you guys are gonna start to see the size of the problem now....... i wonder how they are going to get out of that one... 
> 
> next chapter you get a surprise A GOOD SURPRISE, look forward to it. 
> 
> how do you feel about this one? yes? no? you mad at me?


	6. Chapter 6

“You have to grab the wrist the other way, I’ve said it like 30 times, pay attention.” Hakyeon heard the voice coming from far away.

He opened his eyes and was met with an unfamiliar dim lit room, the only source of light was the one spilling through the window blinds next to his bed. He stretched his arms and legs, moaning pleasurably and bringing his hand to rub his eyes. When his fingers accidentally touched the cut on his cheek he was greeted by pain, that took a few seconds to bring in all the memories back from the day before. He pushed the blinds aside so some light could enter the room and looked at his hand, where just like he expected -but somehow still hoped it wouldn’t be there- was a stitched up cut between his index finger and his thumb. He hadn’t just dreamed the previous night, it had actually happened.

“Okay, I get it, that’s enough-” Hakyeon heard Taekwoon’s voice from the other side of the door. “Ah!” There was a loud thump followed by laughter, not Taekwoon’s. “Jaehwan, get off me or I swear to god-”

Hakyeon decided to go to him, so after sitting a bit to avoid a headrush he stood up, stumbling towards the door. When he turned the doorknob and pulled it open he could hear the laughter even louder. “I won’t, do the move I taught you.” He recognized the voice as Ken’s, stepping out of the bedroom and walking to the living room.

The scene he came across was strange, to say the least. All the furniture was pushed and crammed at one side of the room to create a free space in the middle, where Taekwoon was lying face down on the floor with a hysterical Jaehwan sitting on top of him, legs lapped on either side of his partner as he held both his arms behind his back with a single hand, the other holding his legs down. Hakyeon stopped in the middle of the corridor, watching as he tried to understand what the hell was going on.

“I can’t when you’re holding- my arms like that.” Taekwoon was squirming like a fish in the net trying to get himself free, all his fringe covering his eyes. Jaehwan just found it amusing, seemed comfortable, even.

“Why do you even ask me to teach you if you’re this lazy.” Jaehwan turned his eyes, squeezing his hands tighter. “ _I_ could get out with no problem,” he lowered his body so he could talk next to Taekwoon’s ear, wearing a big grin, “you’re useless without your gun.”

Taekwoon tried to turn to glare at him, met no such luck. “You better pray I don’t find it when you get off me, Lee Jaehwan.” Hakyeon still didn’t understand the situation, but guessed it was friendly, taking a few steps and letting himself into the room.

“So, your name is Jaehwan,” Hakyeon said with a hoarse voice, attracting all the eyes in the room. Taekwoon felt Jaehwan letting go of his hands and stood up in a clumsy manner after his friend gracefully did, face red from the effort he had been making.

“Hey, you’re alive!” Jaehwan said, a wide smile on his lips.

Hakyeon yawned in response. “What time is it?”

“Six,” Taekwoon responded, Hakyeon’s jaw dropped.

“P.m.?” he asked, looking out the window, the sun was setting. He’d slept through the entire day. “Did you put something inside my water yesterday?”

Taekwoon narrowed his eyes at him, like he was trying to see if that had been a joke. “Of course not, Hakyeon, you were just tired.”

“Hey, you’re up!” Hakyeon was surprised by a voice coming from behind him. Sanghyuk came out of the room wearing a baby pink shirt that was tucked into denim overalls, the hems on the bottom rolled up to different lengths. _I cannot believe this kid is a doctor._ “That’s great, I didn’t want to leave without checking up on you.” Sanghyuk gave him a pat on the shoulder as he crossed him on the hallway, going straight to the kitchen. “How are you?” He peeked from behind the door.

“Hungry, but fine, thank you,” he answered truthfully, walking and sitting on the table next to where Taekwoon was, the most comfortable when around the only familiar person in the room.

“We ordered takeout, should be here any minute,” Taekwoon said, resting his chin on his hand. “Didn’t think you would sleep this much, but Hyuk told me to just let you.” at that time he came back from the kitchen, handing Hakyeon a glass of water.

“Oh- thank you, kid.” He didn’t want to ask but he was very thirsty, his throat dry from all the time he had slept.

Sanghyuk laughed.

“What?” Hakyeon raised his head, blushing slightly.

“Taekwoon calls him that too.” Jaehwan came close to Sanghyuk, pinching his cheek before the younger slapped his hand away.

“Oh- I mean-” Hakyeon started, embarrassed. He didn’t exactly make too many ceremonies when meeting new people, not the shy type at all, but he didn’t want to upset him.

Sanghyuk shook his head. “I don’t mind it, I feel like I know you, anyway,” Hakyeon raised his brow, “Taek mentions you- _a lot._ ”

“I know, he’s secretly in love with me,” Hakyeon joked placing his hand on top of his soulmate’s, emulating a romantic act, Taekwoon turned his eyes. “It’s not fair ‘cause I didn’t manage to get anything on you, even when he’s drunk.”

“You tried to make him speak by getting him drunk?” Jaehwan sat next to Hakyeon, a smile dancing on his lips.

Taekwoon had his arms crossed on his chest, sensing the subject turning to him and not happy about it. “I told you he’s nosy,” he murmured.

“I’m not,” Hakyeon glared at his friend, “it’s my tactic when I want him to sing for me.” Taekwoon brought his hands to his head, Hakyeon had met Hyuk and Jaehwan for less than a day and he was already telling on his secrets. “I thought he might blab on his James Bond job too, but he held up better than what I expected.” He took another sip of the water, noticing how hungry he was when it hit his empty stomach. When he put the glass down he noticed Jaehwan and Sanghyuk were staring at him with shocked expressions.

“You _sing_?” Jaehwan glared at Taekwoon, a hurt expression of someone who had been terribly betrayed on his face.

Taekwoon’s cheeks were a light shade of pink. “You’ve never heard him sing? You’re missing out.” Hakyeon was not that surprised, Taekwoon could keep a lot in if you didn’t know all the ways to crack him. But he’d spent 13 years on that job. “Give him 10 minutes on the piano with one of his lyrics journals and you’ll be crying by the end of it.”

Sanghyuk’s mouth was hanging open, Jaehwan almost screamed at his partner’s face. “You play _and_ write songs?” Taekwoon’s face went from pink to red, his ears and neck also getting colored. He looked like a human stop sign. “And you never thought to mention it?” Taekwoon backed away from him before he could begin to spit as he spoke, clearly upset. “You’re an asshole! I need to hear it, now.”

“No.” Taekwoon started to fan his face with his hands, turning towards Hakyeon. “ _Please,_ shut up,” he pleaded. Hakyeon started to laugh, he imagined they didn’t know, but that’s exactly why he was mentioning it.

Hakyeon and Taekwoon knew each other as much as they knew themselves by then, but that had not always been the case. When Taekwoon transferred schools at the age of 13 Hakyeon was already the popular kid, he was the strange new kid who didn’t speak to anyone. The different personalities didn’t make it hard for them to go through the entire year without even acknowledging each other’s existence. That changed when one day Hakyeon was running late for a class and he saw three boys cornering Taekwoon in the hallway, pushing him around and trying to force him to speak. Hakyeon acted more of impulse than anything, throwing himself between the boys and Taekwoon to defend him, an act that almost got him beat up, but was enough to cause the first physical contact with his soulmate. After they got marked, their level of excitement were very different, Hakyeon was very eager to know Taekwoon whilst the other had a lot of problems with letting anyone get too close.

Hakyeon was very determined to earn his trust and found out after a lot of snooping around that Taekwoon was close with the music teacher, who had taught him how to play the piano. With that information it was easy cracking his shell, all he had to do was say Taekwoon could go to his house every day after school and use his father’s piano to practice. Hakyeon’s first birthday gift to Taekwoon was a set of a plain and notation notebooks with a few pens, which he said the boy should use to compose his own songs. The tradition lived on, every birthday Hakyeon would add a new set of notebooks to his soulmate’s present.

“I sing to you all the time,” Jaehwan pointed out, justifying that it was suddenly not a fair trade if he also sang. Both Taekwoon and Sanghyuk always complained about how loud Jaehwan was, but truthfully it was just to get on his nerves, they loved his singing.

“No, Jae,” Taekwoon said firmly, Jaehwan stumped his feet on the floor in response, much like a child when denied candy, pouting towards him and leaning on his arm. Hakyeon found it funny how comfortable Taekwoon seemed around him, they looked like more than just work colleagues.

When Sanghyuk got a text and glanced at his phone he placed his hand on Hakyeon’s shoulder. “I didn’t want to leave without checking up on you, but now I’m a little late,” the older’s expression softened, Hakyeon thought he was easily the kindest person he’d ever met, “so may I?” He motioned to the older's hand.

“Of course, Sanghyuk.” after the answer the younger moved to the chair where Jaehwan was, nudging his soulmate to get up so he could sit. Jaehwan got up complaining even more, Hakyeon thought he must be the spoiled youngest in his family. He was very wrong.

“I’m sorry you’re late because of me,” Hakyeon said staring at the top of his blue hair, the boy focused on the suture he’d made the day before on his hand. “Hope it isn’t anything too important.”

Sanghyuk raised his head, shaking it then smiling at him. “Don’t worry, it isn’t.” He raised his hand and brushed the thumb lightly on Hakyeon’s cheek, one of the strips had fallen from the cut as he slept but gladly it also seemed to be healing fine regardless. The skin around the cut was a collection of purple and green blotches, just like Taekwoon predicted.

“Don’t talk about your boyfriend like that, Hyuk,” Jaehwan said and Sanghyuk turned his eyes, lowering his hand from Hakyeon’s face.

“You’re late for a date because of me?” Hakyeon felt guilty. “I’m so sorry, kid, I swear I’m fine, just go.” _I said he was thirteen, doubted he was even a doctor, mentioned his dead parents, slept on his house for 17h after knowing him for half an hour and made him late for a date with his boyfriend, he must hate my guts._

Sanghyuk chuckled at the older’s reaction, he looked so worried. “It’s _not_ a date,” he reassured, “I’m meeting someone that will be working with me for my master’s thesis.”

Hakyeon’s mouth dropped. “You’re finishing your masters? God, you’re a child prodigy.”

Sanghyuk laughed, finding it amusing how loose mouthed he was. It reminded the boy of Jaehwan. “Yes, I’ll be done in a few months. Just ignore Jae, it’s what we do most of the time.” Jaehwan opened his mouth in fake surprise.

“You’re both giving me a hard time today, geez,” he said, Sanghyuk laughed placing a hand on his waist and pulling him close.

“I’m joking," he gave his friend two pats in the butt and let him go, looking back to Hakyeon. “Everything is healing great, this-” he pointed to his face, “won’t even leave a scar.” He got up, glancing at his phone again. “You can ask Taekwoon for my number and you can talk to me if anything comes up.”

“Thank you.” Hakyeon said, the boy smiled at him then turned away, noticing for the first time the mess in his living room.

Sanghyuk looked at the furniture for a second, standing in the middle of the room, Hakyeon thought he was about to yell at the ones who moved everything around. He simply walked over the couch and avoided the mess, seeming to have found what he was looking for on the other side, opening the drawer under where the tv was and grabbing an iPad. After, he walked back and went towards the door.

“I’m going,” he said, his friends nodded.

“Good luck,” Taekwoon said, Sanghyuk crossed his fingers in the air, wishing himself good luck too. “I hope he’s just as smart as you.” The boy chuckled.

Jaehwan waited until he was almost out the door to speak. “I hope he’s cute!”

Jaehwan laughed when Sanghyuk slid only his hands back in the house, fingers crossed.

\--

It had been a while since Wonsik had truly stepped out of his comfort zone. He studied for a long time with the same classmates, presented with a subject he not even once struggled throughout his course and was doing an internship in a company that belonged to his best friend, always being treated the best by everyone there. His life was simple, same friends, same routine, just like he liked it.

However, his desire to grow bigger professionally made him accept a proposal that would push him out of his comfort zone, partnering with a total stranger with a subject he was unfamiliar with for the most important paper in his educational life. There were too many things that could go wrong, he could not be able to digest the subject well, he might find it boring, his partner might not be as hardworking as he is, they might not get along well. Wonsik was the kind to consider every possible outcome of a situation, which made him very well prepared for a few things, but made him overthink and overreact to others. And that’s exactly what he did from the moment he told the teacher that he would accept to be paired up with a medical student for his final paper until that very moment, walking to the coffee shop where he would meet him for the very first time.

To say he was nervous was an understatement, he’d made Hongbin leave work and come to his apartment at his lunch break to help him choose an outfit, he’d researched and studied about the common grounds between medicine and computer engineering, he’d picked up on meditating before bed. Nonetheless, as he sat in the coffee shop table, waiting for his new partner for the next 6 months arrive, he felt anxious and unprepared. His feet were shaking under the table, he checked his phone for the 7th time since he’d sat down, reading the same text he’d gotten earlier yet again.

From: Han Sanghyuk (Partner)  
I’m leaving my apartment, I’ll be there in 20 minutes.

The text had been so formal, just like every other text he’d received from him ever since Wonsik had gotten his number. Was he doing that because he knew Wonsik was older, or was he that formal all the time? Was he a snob and they would spend the next 6 months trying to prove themselves to each other? Would he be just as shy as Wonsik and they wouldn’t be able to communicate well? Was that going to be a disaster?

There he was, overthinking again. “Stop it, Wonsik,” he murmured, taking a deep breath and looking out of the window, trying to distract himself as he waited. That was helpful since the coffee place was near the university and there were a lot of students walking around, which made the view interesting. He watched a lot of couples go by holding hands passing by, a lot of late people running to class, but what truly made him forget all of his worries was the stunning boy with blue hair and blue coat that had just come off from the bus. “Oh my god.”

Wonsik was mesmerized by him, not noticing he was staring as he came closer and closer. When Sanghyuk stepped inside the café Wonsik thought that was just his day, he couldn’t believe he would get to stare at that beautiful creature as he waited for his partner to arrive. Wonsik couldn’t enjoy his luck so much, because unexpectedly the blue-haired turned his head and their eyes locked. He didn’t have much time to freak out about Sanghyuk walking his way, since he was too worried trying not to get redder than his hair out of embarrassment.

“Hey, I’m so sorry I’m late.” Were his first words and Wonsik froze at the sound of his voice, his face was so hot it was like it would melt from his head. “I’m so glad you recognized me, I had no idea what you looked like and I was too shy to ask.” Sanghyuk continued, still standing, waiting for a reply.

Wonsik snapped himself back to reality, getting a hold of himself. “What?” Was the only thing he managed to say.

“Recognized me-” Sanghyuk raised a brow, worried he’d made a mistake, feeling his own face starting to heat up at the possibility. “That’s why you were staring at me.” He felt himself digging a hole if that was not the case, quickly changing to a more upfront approach. “You’re Kim Wonsik, right?” He was ready to set up camp in Mars if the answer to that question was no.

Wonsik, the highest graduating GPA of Hanyang’s computer engineering course in 6 years, then connected the dots, nodding vigorously and standing up. “Yes, of course, Han Sanghyuk, yes, I did, I mean, I am, yes,” he blabbered, shutting himself immediately when the boy in front of him smiled, his heart doing a backflip. “Hi.”  _Oh my god, I’m such an idiot, oh my god, he’s so beautiful._

“Hi,” he replied still smiling, watching the expression on Wonsik’s face soften and he mirrored his shy smile. _Cute,_ the younger thought. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” he said, not knowing if they should shake hands or bow to each other.

Wonsik was wondering the same thing, so he took the matter in his own hands, motioning Sanghyuk should sit in the chair in front of him. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

Sanghyuk understood the invite and placed his iPad on the table, taking off his coat. Wonsik could not believe that formal person he’d texted with was actually a blue-haired, overalls and pink shirt wearing _giant cute boy_. Hyuk placed his coat on the chair and sat right after, a bit embarrassed with Wonsik’s heavy stare as he did so.

“I hope you didn’t wait too long for me,” Sanghyuk broke the awkward silence. “I had a special patient to do a follow-up, so I lost track of time.”

Wonsik shook his head. “That’s absolutely fine. I didn’t wait too long, don’t worry.” He smiled to Sanghyuk and it was time for his heart to do a backflip. “So- Medicine.”

Sanghyuk exhaled. “So, Computer Engineering… are we insane?” They laughed together.

“Maybe?” Wonsik bit his lip, an uneasy tone. “But I think that if we get this right, it could be amazing.”

“Me too, I’m looking forward to start working on it.” He’d thought about it, it would certainly be a big challenge, but he believed if they got along well and worked hard it would pay off. “but first maybe you can tell me a bit about yourself?” Sanghyuk suggested it, not only for introduction’s sake but because he was very curious as to what kind of person Wonsik was.

Wonsik felt himself blushing, maybe a wool turtleneck was not the best choice, he felt like he was cooking inside of it. “What would you like to know?”

Sanghyuk laughed, he knew Wonsik was older than him and yet he was the one leading the conversation. “Maybe a few things about your life, your hobbies, why did you choose CE.” He offered some suggestions, mainly the things he was curious about. “if you feel comfortable in sharing,” he added.

Wonsik bit his lip again, trying to think where to begin. “Well, I was born in 93,” _two years older than me,_  “and my dad raised me by himself, so we are very close.” Sanghyuk nodded, so he continued. “I was actually born in France, but I came here as a baby, grew up in Seoul.” He wrapped it up, that was the quick version of his life.

Wonsik couldn’t remember anything from his childhood in Toulouse, all the memories he had from the place were from visiting trips. His dad had a lot of pictures of him in France and he tried his best for his son to stay connected to his heritage, but a lot was lost in time.

Sanghyuk was surprised. “Can you speak any french?”

Wonsik laughed, nodding. _“Je suis désolé, mon français n'est pas très bon, mais j'essaie,"_   he said the phrase he would often use to answer the frequent question.

Sanghyuk blinked. “That sounded great, what does it mean?”

Wonsik laughed because he knew that it actually didn’t sound that great at all. “It means my french is not good, but I try.”

“Ah-” Hyuk nodded, his fringe falling on his eyes.

“It’s hard for me to keep on top of my french when I don’t have anyone to practice it with,” Wonsik explained. “All I know was self-taught, I didn’t want to lose that part of me so I studied a bit, but I don’t think I’m good at it,” he admitted.

“If it’s any help, I think you sounded perfect,” Sanghyuk complimented, he wouldn’t mind Wonsik speaking nonsensical french to him as practice. “So, you said you had no one to practice, you’re an only child then?”

Wonsik watched Sanghyuk rest his face on his hand as he listened. He was so interested in him, it made his stomach feel weird. “Yes?” Sanghyuk raised a brow, how could an answer to that question be another question. “I don’t have any other blood siblings that I know of,” that spiked Sanghyuk’s curiosity, but he bit his tongue to keep quiet. “But ever since I moved here I was raised with someone that is like a brother to me. We shared everything, fought all the way through our childhood, practically lived together, the whole sibling experience.” He laughed, remembering how once he got so mad at Hongbin as teens he pushed him into the house pool, freaking out after he remembered he cannot swim. They both ended up grounded by Mrs. Lim and were forced to apologize to each other and hug.

“So you have a brother,” Sanghyuk said in a soft tone. “From my experience, family is more of a feeling than a blood bond.”

“That’s true, so yes, I have an annoying brother,” Wonsik said and laughed. “What about you, any siblings?”

“Unfortunately no,” Sanghyuk replied. “I remember begging my parents for a little sister,” he smiled widely, remembering that the day he turned 10 he said the only gift big enough for that important date would be a sister. “But sadly they both passed away before that.”

That was the part of the conversation where normally people would get awkward, would look at him with a pitied expression and start to treat him differently. He understood the whole stigma around death, but he hated when people would apologize for even mentioning them, like it was a prohibited topic. His parents were amazing, strong and beautiful people and Sanghyuk was not constantly sad over the fact that they’d died, he was happy they’d lived.

Sanghyuk was surprised at Wonsik’s reaction, the red-haired mirrored his smile, nothing about that look was of pity. “I bet you would’ve spoiled her,” he said simply. Sanghyuk had never gotten that reaction before, chuckling before he responded.

“I would have,” he said, _she would have been the most spoiled little girl in Seoul._ “As for my family,” he stretched his arm over the table, placing it closer to Wonsik, “this is where it lies.” He pointed to his and Jaehwan’s mark.

Wonsik came near to the table again, curious to see it close. Just like everything else in Sanghyuk, Wonsik thought the mark was gorgeous. The main feature was a triangle, all three equal sides drawn in a thin black line. The triangle was not a frame, because the delicate lines that structured it did not trap what was inside. The blue pattern was darker in the center and bled over and under the sides of the triangle in a lighter tone, reminding Wonsik of waves. It was like someone had dropped a painting brush in the center of a wet piece of paper, that splattered the deep navy and created a gradient shading of blue as it diluted around.

“He is also annoying,” Sanghyuk said and Wonsik raised his eyes. When their eyes met again he thought of how much he hated fate. Of course, that perfect man was already marked.

“It’s beautiful,” Wonsik murmured, breaking eye contact and clearing his throat.

“Thank you,” Sanghyuk said pulling his arm back and resting it on his lap. “Jae thinks his is prettier, but I just think he has bad taste.”

“They’re different?” Wonsik asked.

“Oh-” Sanghyuk realized he didn’t specify which kind of soulmate Jaehwan was. “Yes, he’s my platonic soulmate,” he said casually, for some reason Wonsik’s stomach felt weird again. “His triangle is upside down and on the back of the neck,” he touched his own skin over the place he’d mentioned, “the size is the same, but the color inside is red, not blue.”

Wonsik couldn’t hold his smile. “Well, I think yours is prettier too.” Sanghyuk laughed. “Do you know him since you were kids too?”

“No,” he shook his head, “we met three years ago through a mutual friend, but this soulmate thing works, we became close very fast.”

“I hear it does.” Wonsik was usually shy around new people, but Sanghyuk was so calm in his own way he was starting to loosen up, not feeling embarrassed at everything he would say.

“Well, what else do I need to know about you, monsieur Wonsik?” Sanghyuk said and Wonsik melted a little in his seat, imagining what would his french name sound like coming from his lips.

“I feel like you have a lot more to say that I do, Sanghyuk,” he said truthfully, the blue-haired shook his head immediately. “My teacher had nothing but compliments to give you.” Wonsik noticed he had made the younger embarrassed.

“Like what?” Sanghyuk brushed his hair behind his ear, Wonsik could see the ends of it were red before his hair fell on top of it again.

“Like you’re a prodigy, that even though you were the youngest in all your classes you were always the best, that you always took criticism seriously to improve yourself, that you’re extremely hardworking and kind,” he remembered all of the words his teacher used to convince him to open up to the pairing. As the blue-haired blushed in front of him he felt like he should buy her a fancy dinner as a thank you.

Sanghyuk cleared his throat. “They are the ones who were always kind to me, I was so scared when I started uni-” He remembered it clearly, the first day in biochemistry sitting alone thinking if he could do it. “But everyone, from classmates to teachers, always moved heaven and earth to help me, I think I only graduated because of them,” Sanghyuk said, Wonsik was surprised to hear that.

“You graduate medicine at early-20-something and you don’t think you owe it to your own effort?” It seemed unbelievable to the older to even think that.

Sanghyuk nodded with no hesitation. “It’s not that I don’t think I worked hard… but I didn’t understand why was I receiving so much love, so much care,” he spoke without even noticing the weight of his words, Wonsik felt his heart tighten, life hadn’t been easy on him. “I’m beyond thankful to everyone because I feel like that helped me to keep going, I was very lucky and privileged.”

Wonsik nodded even though he disagreed on some parts, Sanghyuk seemed to be thankful for people not treating him badly, which was just absolutely messed up, he didn’t think you should be rewarding people for treating others like they always should, with kindness.

“And what made you start your masters? Didn’t you think of residency?” he asked, that would be the natural path for medical students, start practicing.

“To be honest, I didn’t feel ready yet, I was 21,” he admitted, Wonsik nodded, that was very mature of him at 21 to recognize his personal boundaries. “I thought I needed to study more, learn more. It’s not like it’s only books and no patients, I still go into the hospital two times a week for classes there, my masters is in Surgery, after all, you need to do them to learn.” He chuckled. “Now I’m much more confident in my abilities, I’m not scared to go into an operating room since I’ve had 2 extra years of practice. After my masters, I’ll do my residency.”

That still sounded incredible to Wonsik, he was 23 and finishing his master’s degree. Sanghyuk would have a residency and a masters on his resumé before he turned 25, the age he was now.

“Are you any good now?” Wonsik asked in a playful tone and Sanghyuk laughed.

“I think I am, yes.” He smiled. “Always studying and learning, but I know what I’m doing.”

“You’re very confident, I’m assuming you must be very good,” he said and Sanghyuk felt slightly embarrassed, shaking his hands.

“I’m just lucky my seniors took an interest in me and let me practice a lot,” Sanghyuk said, smiling as he remembered them. “They are always beside me and let me take the lead when I ask, which is rare for a new graduate, but I’ve earned their trust.”

Wonsik’s mouth was open. “You _lead_ the operating team? As in the main surgeon?”

Sanghyuk laughed at his reaction, he looked so surprised, it was adorable. “I do sometimes, when it’s a procedure I’m confident in and I know it’s not my own personal greed I ask for the lead. My seniors stay beside me all the time, though, if I were to mess it up they would step forward and help.”

“But you never did.” Sanghyuk shook his head no, _thank god._ “You’re incredible,” he said, fascinated by the younger.

“I would prove I’m decent by operating something on you, but you seem to be doing fine.” Wonsik trembled on his seat, even the thought sent shivers down his body and made his lips twist, Sanghyuk noticed and laughed. His cheeks were starting to get numb from it, he seemed to laugh at everything the red-haired did or said.

Sanghyuk changed the subject. “But you, I hear you’re kind of a genius,” Wonsik almost choked with his own saliva, his face heating up straightaway. “impressive 4.5 GPA, top of your class, best in all Hanyang,” he said watching the red-haired evolve into loud laughter, leaning back on the chair, closing his eyes and covering his mouth with his hands. Sanghyuk caught himself smiling in reflex, he had such a contagious laugh.

“Your GPA was 4.2!” Wonsik laughed, pointing out they were not so distant from each other. “Definitely _not_ a genius, I’m just a fast learner,” he tried to control himself so he wouldn’t start laughing again, “I’ve always loved all the scary subjects, maths, physics… They come to me naturally, makes it easier to understand technology and engineering, building the connection and all,” he said honestly, Sanghyuk seemed impressed.

“So you’ve always had an interest in technology?” There went Sanghyuk again, leaning on his hand staring at Wonsik with the most interested expression ever, making his heart do a flip.

“Oh, always, I think even before I could talk,” he answered, feeling like staring into Sanghyuk’s beautiful eyes would make him burst into flames and die. “Coding is easy, it’s either yes or a no, right or wrong, either works or it doesn’t, you don’t get much of that in life.” to that Sanghyuk could agree, seemed like a good reason to like something.

“Interesting,” Sanghyuk said, still staring at him through his fluttering long lashes and threatening Wonsik’s life. “Do you already know what area exactly do you want to work in?”

Wonsik nodded, ever since he got into university he had that figured out. “Security engineering.”

Sanghyuk chuckled, his hand fell from his face. “Whoa, monsieur Wonsik wants to be a hacker.”

Wonsik was surprised he knew that much, people normally had no idea. “Ethical hacking, Dr. House, I’ll get myself a certificate that will allow me to do it.” _Even though I already do it without it,_ he thought to himself.

Sanghyuk snorted at the nickname, he was getting a lot of new ones lately. “And apart from ethical hacking-” he used an ironic tone, “what do you like doing?”

Wonsik thought about it for a moment. “I like working out, it’s how I destress every day,” he said and Sanghyuk did not relate. “I like art in pretty much every form, I love music, poetry, paintings, literature, movies, dance, drawings… Everything.” He laughed, to that Sanghyuk could relate at some level. “That’s why I have so many tattoos, I think of them as art too.” Sanghyuk looked him up and down after he finished speaking, there were none that he could see, but it was winter and Wonsik had layers of clothes on.

“Oh really, can I see them?” Sanghyuk asked, his curiosity getting the best of him.

Wonsik pulled his left sleeve up, showing him one of his oldest ones. Sanghyuk leaned over his arm, not commenting on what obviously read ‘LXD’, but analyzing the shading inside the letters in silence. After a while, Wonsik pulled his right sleeve up too so he could see the two he had in his other forearm. “This one is the newest one I did.” he showed Sanghyuk the one in the outside part of the arm first, the boy was considering reaching and pulling his arm to see it from centimeters apart, but that would most certainly make Wonsik red again. It seemed like a Fenix, maybe a dragon, he liked it, whatever it was.

As Sanghyuk looked at the tattoo, Wonsik looked at him.

Sanghyuk murmured in a low voice. “It’s so well done, it must have hurt like hell.” he raised only his eyes, Wonsik smiled at him and shook his head no. When he turned the inside part of the arm towards the boy, Sanghyuk recognized the tattoo immediately.

“The god of art,” he whispered, going even closer to look, Wonsik was surprised again.

“How do you know everything?” he asked, making the younger embarrassed again. Wonsik wished he could see the tip of Sanghyuk’s ears, he was certain they were red.

“You just gave me a whole speech about loving art, how could this not be Apollo?” he asked, still looking at the details of the tattoo. “It’s beautiful,” he said after a moment of looking at it, Wonsik lowered the sleeve. “Only those three?” he asked, leaning back on his chair again.

Wonsik snorted and shook head. “I have seven.” Sanghyuk’s eyes widened. “The others are around here-” he motioned around his collarbone and torso, “so I can’t show you now, I would have to take this off.” He pulled on the fabric on the high collar of the sweater, Sanghyuk’s mouth dried watching him.

“T-that’s okay.” When Sanghyuk shuttered they both blushed, avoiding each other’s eyes. The blue-haired wanted to dig a hole all the way to Argentina. Maybe he could learn Spanish and live happily there.

An awkward silence followed, Sanghyuk was so embarrassed he couldn’t bring himself to say anything and every silent second that passed made it worse. Wonsik cleared his throat, pushing his chair back from the table. “I’m going to get some coffee, what can I get you?” he asked with a low voice.

“Oh-” Sanghyuk reached to the chair beside him and looked for his wallet on his coat, thinking about what he wanted to have and avoiding eye contact at all costs.

When Wonsik understood what he was doing he interrupted him with a playful tone. “It’s on me today, Doc, just tell me what you would like.”

 _To see the rest of your tattoos._ “I’m craving sugar,” he answered in a reflex, _so I can think straight. If that’s even a possibility._ “Maybe a hot chocolate?”

“Sure,” Wonsik said simply and got up, walking to the line to order. He grabbed his phone whilst he waited, looking back to check if Sanghyuk was still on the table before he started to type.

To: Bin  
as expected i’m making a fool of myself  
he is… so… beautiful…… and tall  
every time he smiles at me it’s like my heart is gonna come out off my butt  
is this love

“Hello sir, can I get you anything?” the guy in front of him asked with a flat tone.

Wonsik raised his eyes towards him. “Ah, yes, can I get a vanilla latte and a hot chocolate, please?” The guy just nodded, lazily taking notes of the order.

“That will be 12 thousand won,” he said and Wonsik handed him the money, thanking him than stepping aside, looking through his phone as he waited for his order.

From: Bin  
You’re the easiest guy I’ve ever met, I hope you know.   
Is he smarter than you?

Wonsik glanced at the table were Sanghyuk was sitting, also texting someone whilst biting his lips to hold in a smile, then back at his own phone.

To: Bin  
yes and yes  
he is perfect  
i hope our babies take after him

“Wonsik,” a person behind the counter called, announcing his order was ready. He held his coffee in the same hand as his phone, grabbing Sanghyuk’s with the other and walking back to the table.

Sanghyuk only noticed Wonsik was back when he placed the chocolate drink in front of him, his smile still present when he put the phone aside on the table. He was clearly still holding in a laughter, Wonsik raised his brow. “Thank you.”

When Sanghyuk’s phone buzzed and the screen light up on the table he placed his entire spread hand on top of it without even looking at the received text, flipping the device down and pushing it away from the both in a quick move. Wonsik was a bit startled on how desperate he seemed, but of course, he wouldn’t mention it.

“I’ve brought some things for you to see,” Sanghyuk spoke after he took a sip of the hot chocolate, it was very rich and he thought there was no way he could finish it by himself, since Wonsik apparently bought the biggest size they had. “so we can start to at least try to see which direction we’re going.”

Sanghyuk reached over and took his iPad, Wonsik had also made some research on his own, so he wasn’t completely unaware of the subject. “Great, show me,” the older responded, leaning on the table slightly so he could see it close.

“I don’t know how much you know about medicine,” Sanghyuk began, Wonsik laughed _, not much._ “There is a lot we can do around the topic, really, but I think the most comfortable for both you and I would be something with biomedical engineering.”

“Yeah, that’s where I got too,” he replied, looking at some topics Sanghyuk had written out and trying to understand them upside down, which he failed at, deciding to hear for the most part.

“I think the most obvious thing for yours would be bioinformatics or something with medical devices and equipment, maybe?” Sanghyuk gave it a shot, he didn’t know what were his preferences or what he was strongest at.

“I think bioinformatics is more my thing,” Wonsik scratched his head. “But even though it’s a lot of programming there is a lot of biology in it too and believe me,” he sounded serious. “A high schooler is better than me at that.”

Sanghyuk laughed. “I’m here for a reason, I’ll help you out,” he pointed out. “It’s a lot of genetics, and that’s _very_ easy,” Wonsik snorted, he didn’t think Sanghyuk understood he was serious when he said high school level biology. “No- really. You would focus more on the technology aspect of it, anyways.”

“What do you think I can do on that?” Wonsik asked, since he had no idea. “Remember I’m an idiot, please,” he said seriously.

Sanghyuk laughed, trying to choose the words he would use carefully to hopefully be understood. “Well, that field is brilliant because it analyzes what DNA is made of, how it works, communicates and expresses itself, basically,” he began, moving his hands around. “If we understood how DNA transmits information, maybe we could block the ones we don’t want, like the information to form cell mutations that result in cancer and other diseases.” He analyzed Wonsik’s face to see if he was following him.

“Okay.” It came as a surprise to himself when he understood what was being said. “So edit it.”

“Exactly, edit the DNA,” Sanghyuk confirmed. “But we can’t go around checking every single set of genes to see if they will result in a problem,” Sanghyuk pointed out. “This is where you come in, people that make programs that use statistics and math to understand the biological data.”

“Ah,” he dragged the vowel like he’d understood, Sanghyuk smiled. “That doesn’t sound too bad, I understood that.”

“See, not an idiot at all.” Sanghyuk laughed. “Now on the coding and how the program works is all you, I have no idea.”

“You literally cut people’s bodies up and they survive and you don’t know how to place some numbers on a screen?” 

The talk continued for hours, they explained each other concepts, talked about preferences, made notes and basically tried to understand how they could make papers were innovative but made sense.

Two hours and three cups of coffee later Wonsik pitied his stomach. “Ok, I think that’s good for today, it’s late and I want to eat something that’s not liquid or cake.”

Sanghyuk was not sure if that was an invitation to go out, but he felt really tired and wanted to go home, he’d spent the morning in his office so he was pretty beat. “I think so too, I studied a lot today so I need some rest,” he said, brushing his hand on his hair.

They both agreed on leaving, talking as they went towards the door. “Where do you live?” Wonsik asked. “I saw you coming off a bus,” he said without giving it much thought, then hoped Sanghyuk wouldn’t hang on to the fact that he noticed him even from that far. Sanghyuk did.

He held a smile as he spoke. “I live near that shopping center that has the big fountains in the front,” Sanghyuk said, holding the door open for Wonsik. “I only came by bus because I didn’t want you to wait any longer, it’s like a 25-minute walk from here.”

Sanghyuk had found a place that was close to his university, he thought it wouldn’t make sense to rent a place far from where he studied and had to be at almost every day.

“Really?” Wonsik asked surprised. “I live like two streets away from there.”

“Oh- that’s weird.” He thought even though a lot of students live around the area, to live two streets from each other was an odd coincidence. He was happy to walk home with Wonsik, either way. “Do you share a place with someone?”

“No, it’s not a rental, it’s mine.” He felt the cold breeze hit his face and shoved his hands on his pockets to keep himself warm. “It’s too cramped for more than one, anyway, it’s a studio apartment.” He laughed, wondering how would it be like to even try to share that space with a roommate.

“That sounds so nice,” Sanghyuk said. “I really wanted my own space, don’t care if it’s like tiny or huge, just a place I can call my own.”

Wonsik nodded, he understood the feeling. “Is there no way you can afford it right now?” he asked with a soft tone, trying not to be invasive of his privacy.

“No, unfortunately,” Sanghyuk said, exhaling loudly and forming a cloud in the chilly air in front of him. “I need to pay for my living expenses as well as for the university fees by myself, there is no way I could save up,” he answered.

Wonsik remembered he mentioned he had no parents, but surely he had other family members who could help. “You pay for everything yourself? Like, there is no one helping you even with living expenses?” he was 23, Wonsik didn’t quite understand what was like to have no one behind you to assist you.

Sanghyuk smiled. “I meant it when I said I only have Jae, Wonsik, ever since my parents died I had to support myself, I have no other family, I was truly alone until I got marked,” he tried to clarify, see if the older understood what he was talking about.

Wonsik wondered if he could already ask such questions, but Sanghyuk seemed to have no problems with answering anything so far, so he gave it a shot. “How old were you?” his voice was kind, a tone that made it clear that if Sanghyuk didn’t want to, he shouldn’t feel pressured to answer.

“13,” he said looking straight up front, Wonsik’s mouth dropped open, could he be working since then? “I don’t have any other family so I was placed in an orphanage until I was 16.” Wonsik couldn’t take his eyes off Sanghyuk, this time the boy didn’t notice, eyes up front on the sidewalk. “That’s when I got accepted at Hanyang and moved to a uni dorm.” he completed, Wonsik couldn’t even think of anything to respond at first.

“So you managed to pay everything yourself?” he asked, knowing how ridiculously expensive medical school was.

“Unfortunately I didn’t have a full scholarship, but I got 5 out of 10 semesters, that saved me.” Wonsik was surprised, that was very good, a lot better than what he did even with a higher GPA. “I worked my butt off at 2 jobs to pay for the tuition and made _a lot_ of debts, but when I turned 18 I was finally able to access the money my parents had left me, so I paid most of them off and survived without going to jail or something. Jae always tries to help me and when I really need it I take it, but I hate it.” He didn’t notice how he was trailing off topic, distracted by his own thoughts. “He tries to spoil me by buying me clothes and buying things he says reminds him of me, he thinks I don’t notice it.” He laughed, Wonsik was still taking it all in, shocked by the story, he would have never thought.  
  
Wonsik made the other feel so giggly and light, his energy was so inviting, almost compelling to the younger. Sanghyuk had no problem with opening up to people and talking about his past, since his story spiked their curiosity and he had gotten used to it. But it was not always that Sanghyuk wanted to get close to them too, Wonsik was proving to be someone he wanted to know everything about, he could hear his voice for a long time. It was comfortable, weirdly fitting.

The older was in a mix of surprise and admiration, managing to speak after a short pause. “You are the most- extraordinary person I’ve ever met.”

Sanghyuk laughed at the word he’d chosen. “Extraordinary is a bit much, don’t you think?” _No, I don’t_. “But I’ve been through quite a bit, yeah. I’m perfectly fine now, though, everyday things get easier for me, I’m happy.” Sanghyuk smiled faintly.

Wonsik had so much to comment he didn’t know where to begin. “How are you this strong?”

Sanghyuk finally noticed the red-haired eyes glued to him as he walked, blushing and trying to hide a little in the collar of his coat. “I just had to be, I didn’t really have another option. And like I’ve told you- university made everything easier, everyone was amazing, that helped me to keep going.”

Wonsik murmured, “I think you’re amazing.” Sanghyuk felt his heart skip a beat, blushing even harder, his pink ears visible to Wonsik’s scanning eyes.

“I think you’re too nice to me.” Sanghyuk chuckled, glad the cold breeze was helping his face to not be as hot.

Wonsik was always the kind of kid that got told ‘put your hands behind your back’ when walking into a store that had items that could be broken, he had always been very clumsy and distracted. Having that in mind, staring at someone walking beside you and not at where you were going was very dangerous for a person like him, he could stumble on someone coming the other way or he could trip on his own feet. Or he could definitely run face first into a bus stop.

He didn’t quite understand what had happened as he fell on his butt on the sidewalk, holding his face in his cold hands due to the sudden pain in his forehead. The level of ridiculousness of what had just happened felt worse than the pain, the embarrassment dawning on him.

“Oh my god.” Sanghyuk looked to the ground where Wonsik was sitting at, legs spread wide and hands on his forehead. He crouched in front of him. “Are you okay?” he asked worried, but when Wonsik smiled in embarrassment from behind his hands the younger started to laugh.

“Is there any chance you didn’t see that?” Wonsik asked, his eyes closed behind his hands, feeling his face heat up. His forehead was throbbing painfully, as you would expect when bashing it into a metal surface.

Sanghyuk started to laugh even harder, his stomach contracted, he tried to keep his balance as he crouched so he wouldn’t fall on his butt and make the situation even more comical. “I’m sorry, I saw everything.” Wonsik could hear in his tone that he was laughing and that just made him even more embarrassed.

Sanghyuk looked around, some people had stopped to see what was happening, watching from a distance trying to understand the situation.

“Some people saw it too,” Sanghyuk said between giggles, Wonsik grunted from behind his hands, wondering if he could just sit at the dirty cold ground for the rest of the night. Sanghyuk’s eyes were starting to get sparkly with tears, but he was worried Wonsik had hurt his head. “You should watch where you’re going, clumsy, does it hurt? Lemme see it.” He raised his hands to remove the older’s from his face.

Suddenly it changed, not the moment but the both participating in it. When Sanghyuk’s fingers wrapped around Wonsik’s everything was different, everything would be different from then on. Even though Sanghyuk had been through a marking before, it was nothing like the first time, it was unique, theirs. Jaehwan made him feel like he was tingling all over, Wonsik made him feel like he was floating, like his body weighted nothing, like he was smoke in the air. The feeling of calm, safety and balance was overwhelming on both, so sudden but so obvious that it couldn’t be anything else other than the very energy that lied inside of each one coming together between their fingers. Sanghyuk made Wonsik feel overtaken by a sense of serenity, it was not the other half of his soul but the familiarity of one that was exactly like his own.

Every marking is unique, not only because there could be romantic or platonic soulmates and those are different, but because every single human is not like any other that exists on the planet. The relationship two soulmates share is theirs, the way their spirits come together as one will originate something that was never seen or felt before by anyone, simply because it never existed until it the moment they touched.

The blue-haired had fallen on the ground, both legs to one side whilst he held his soulmate’s hands gently between his own. Wonsik was staring at their hands, surprisingly not embarrassed by the intimate act with someone he barely knew but trying to believe that was real, like maybe he could see the energy being traded in front of his eyes to prove it. Sanghyuk was his and he was Sanghyuk’s, that was a lot to take in from a split second to the other.

Sanghyuk was the first to come out of the shock, looking at Wonsik’s face. The red-haired eyes were wide, staring down at their hands, it made the question ‘do you feel it too?’ unnecessary, it was obvious he did. When Sanghyuk lifted one of his hands Wonsik seemed to have woken up from the trance, his heart started to race.

Sanghyuk’s touch on Wonsik’s face was feather-like, but the red-haired did not understand it, the heat of the blush strong in his cheeks. “Are you okay?” His voice came like a whisper, it sounded like another language to the other.

Wonsik realized Sanghyuk was holding his fringe to the side and looking at his forehead, but the proximity was making him too nervous to understand anything. “What?” his voice broke, staring at his face up close.

There was a hint of a smile on Sanghyuk’s lips. “Does it hurt?” He brushed his thumb lightly on the red area, the sting reminded Wonsik of what had happened, it did hurt but Sanghyuk, his soulmate, was touching him and it was all he could think about.

When he shook his head no Sanghyuk’s hand fell from his red locks to meet his other hand. The blush intensified when Wonsik glanced down and saw Sanghyuk’s fingers rested on his thigh, loosely intertwined with his own. The airy feeling was still there, ever so strong, they could feel each other as if every inch of their skin was touching.

“Wonsik.” His eyes came up from their hands and as soon as it met Sanghyuk’s he pulled them back, so embarrassed he couldn’t even reply.

“Do you feel-” Wonsik began speaking, but his voice broke, he didn’t try to say it again. Sanghyuk chuckled, he was considerably less shocked than the other.

“You know I do,” he replied, the older’s mouth opened in shock, Sanghyuk was amused by his reaction. “My goodness, am I that bad? You look like you just got some horrible news,” he joked, but part of him was worried Wonsik was acting that way out of discontent.

“You’re joking, right?” Wonsik replied in a reflex, looking at the younger’s face as if had just said the most absurd thing he’d ever heard. “You’re- perfect,” he blurted out in a breath, staring into the other’s eyes like suddenly he was the least shy person to exist, like his heart wasn’t almost jumping out of his ribcage.

Sanghyuk laughed harder, Wonsik was just watching him. “You hit your head harder than what I thought,” he said, placing both his hands on the floor so he could get up. Wonsik followed his movements with his eyes but didn’t move from where he was.

Sanghyuk looked down at Wonsik, staring at him through his bright red fringe with his round eyes, sitting on the floor with his hands holding each other as if he didn’t know where to rest them. The younger chuckled again, he was adorable.

“Come on,” the blue-haired said, offering both hands to Wonsik. The older took the help, lightly placing his hands on Sanghyuk’s again, not having much time to feel the odd calming sensation before he was pulled to his feet without making even the smallest effort. Sanghyuk let go of his hand that time, trying to avoid making the other uncomfortable again. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He raised his brow.

Wonsik nodded, seemingly going back to his normal state. “I am, I’m sorry I just-” he looked at the other’s expression, he looked so worried, apprehensive.,“hit my head pretty hard,” he attempted a joke, Sanghyuk bit his lips to not smile, holding it in.

“You did,” he said, stepping aside so the other understood that they should start walking again.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, painfully awkward, but neither of them knew what to say. Both needed to take in the information their own way, it meant a lot for each one. Wonsik wanted to run until he got so tired and so out of breath that he could be certain that he was awake, he wanted to call Hongbin and scream, he also wanted to cry a little bit too.

“This is me,” Sanghyuk said, stopping in front of a building. Wonsik turned to face him. There was no one on the sidewalks, they were alone under the night sky and the faint streetlights. “I don’t know what to say,” he admitted, leaning on the wall behind him and looking at the floor.

Wonsik’s voice was almost a whisper. “Are you disappointed?” It was the last thing Sanghyuk expected to hear, his eyes shot up immediately and when they found his soulmate’s he saw he wasn’t joking.

“In you?” he asked, in disbelief of the question. Wonsik nodded, biting his lip. “God, no.” Sanghyuk huffed out a laugh, trying to sound convincing for the next part. “The only disappointment I got tonight was not seeing your other 4 tattoos,” he said and Wonsik laughed, exhaling loudly in relief. Sanghyuk wondered if something in the way he acted sparked the question or something Wonsik had gone through in his past did.

“I didn’t get to see yours too,” Wonsik said and the younger was confused for a moment since he had no tattoos, but he realized his soulmate was referring to the mark, somewhere in his body at that very moment.

“I haven’t seen it myself, so I guess it’s okay,” he said and they both smiled, falling into silence again.

After a few quiet seconds, Sanghyuk took a step forward and raised his hand to Wonsik’s face, sliding his fingers between his bangs and moving them aside in a similar way he’d done earlier. That was not the care of a doctor, but someone who was craving the feeling the other gave him, wanting it just a little bit more for the last time that night. The red-haired didn’t follow the other’s hand with his eyes, but focused on his face, who was the closest it had been to his own yet. It was so nerve-wracking to Wonsik whenever the younger would even look his way, being the shy and reserved person he was, but since Sanghyuk tended to not overthink his actions, whatever he wanted to do, he did. And at that moment, he wanted to be close to Wonsik.

The younger noticed how red the other’s forehead was, would definitely grow a bump later in the night. “Ice it as soon as you get home, okay?” Sanghyuk said with a soft tone, moving his hand to place the hair that was between his fingers behind Wonsik’s ear. The older swallowed dry, thinking he would faint at that very second, the airy sensation there again.

When the older nodded the hair fell on his face again, Sanghyuk smiled and took a step back, Wonsik felt as if he could breathe again. Sanghyuk turned to open the building’s gate.

“Bye, partner.” Sanghyuk smiled widely, waving him goodbye as he stepped inside and out of Wonsik’s view.

As soon as the older was alone he threw his weight on the wall behind him, needing the support to keep standing. Had all of that really happened? His perfect intelligent badass blue-haired partner for his final paper was his soulmate. He’d found his soulmate. “Oh my god,” he whispered, placing his hands on his knees. If that was a dream, he wanted to never wake up. When he took a hold of himself, nose red from standing in the cold for too long, he was overwhelmed with the urge of seeing the mark with his own eyes, he needed to know it was real.

He started to walk towards his own apartment, in such a fast pace it could almost be considered running, the cold air hitting his face and hands, but he kept going like it didn’t bother him. When he reached his door his hands were moving fast, shoving the key on the keyhole and forgetting it there once it opened.

His coat was on the floor of the living room and his shirt was already off when he got to the bathroom mirror. He looked down at his arms first, nothing new there. He realized he was panting when he glanced at his image in the mirror, turning on his back to check, nothing new there too. His mouth was dry, starting to get nervous.

“It’s not here,” he whispered, feeling like he could start crying. “It was a misunderstanding, it’s not here,” he whimpered.

He then took a deep breath, taking a hold of his own thoughts, he’d only checked half of his body and he was definitely overreacting. Wonsik loosened his pants and shimmied out of them, trying not to trip as he lifted one leg in front of himself. When he saw nothing but even skin he got nervous again, he lifted his other leg. His eyes widened.

He had no tattoos from his waist down, so the mark stood out to him immediately. He felt a mix of relief and an urge to laugh at himself for being that nervous. Wonsik walked to his bed, in his underwear, and put his feet up on the soft mattress, watching his ankle carefully, where their mark was.

The tree’s leaves were a deep rich green, the long branches spreading through the skin of his ankle and forming a round-like shape. It was obvious that it wasn’t a new tree, it was old, he could see the trunk that supported looked strong and sturdy. Though the rich green of the leaves was the main color of the mark, it was not its main feature. There were both oranges and oranges blossoms hanging from the branches of the tree, the bright vibrant color of the fruit and the pure color of the flower breaking the dominant green and standing out from it. There were no gold or silver traces to it, so whoever saw it could think it was just an extremely detailed and talented tattoo artist’s work. Wonsik loved it the moment he saw it, the colors were beautiful, the shape was beautiful, everything about it was perfect to him.

He brushed his fingers over his and Sanghyuk’s tree, obviously an orange tree. He didn’t know what it meant, but probably his smartass soulmate did. He probably had the entire analysis of it by then. He smiled thinking about him.

Wonsik looked at the mark for a while, finding out more details and falling deeper in love with it every time he did. He snapped out of it when he realized he needed to call Hongbin and tell him, it was like he could hear him thanking Buddha for having someone to relieve him of Wonsik’s cuddles. When he grabbed his phone, he saw there was a new text.

From: Han Sanghyuk (Partner)  
life and death situation  
i need to know where yours is

The text didn’t have even the slightest hint of formality shown before, suddenly Sanghyuk seemed to have loosened up. Wonsik’s stomach turned when he thought the younger might feel comfortable with him, that he liked him.

To: Han Sanghyuk (partner)  
right ankle  
yours?

After a second of sending the text, a photo came from the other side, clearly Sanghyuk had already taken it previously and was just then sending it. Wonsik didn’t understand where it was at first, but when he did, he was surprised. It was much bigger than his own, between his shoulders right in the middle, but exactly like his own. _Exactly_ like his own, he smiled. Wonsik stared at the photo, not sure if he was looking at the mark or at Sanghyuk’s broad bare shoulders.

Wonsik took a photo of his ankle and sent it so Sanghyuk could see it too, once again replied immediately.

From: Han Sanghyuk (partner)  
it’s tiiiiiny compared to mine  
you can’t even make a single glass of juice with your oranges  
i think it means i’ll like you more, monsieur

Wonsik chuckled. Everything the boy did endeared him. He was screwed.

To: Han Sanghyuk (partner)  
no it doesn’t  
especially if you keep calling me that

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was a breather for you guys, a nice surprise... smitten wonsik is everything to me ): hope you enjoyed it!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the storylines are finally coming together...
> 
> ok this is already in the main tags but i thought i should add  
> tw: abusive father
> 
> enjoy the read

“Taek?” Jaehwan called, peeking his head around the door into the large living room. There was no noise he could hear coming from inside the house, so he assumed the owner was not there yet, but he let himself in, anyway. He threw the keys on the glass table, then decided to put his gun and knife there too, it didn’t make sense walking inside the most secure house he’d ever been with those on him. For Jaehwan to be able to enter the house when Taekwoon was not there meant he had to know the code to the outside and inside gate, fingerprint registered and a physical key. Even if it seemed very excessive to him, he had to admit whenever he would crash at Taekwoon’s he would have the best and most relaxing sleep. But he called his friend crazy to his face.

He loved his partner’s house even if he didn’t visit it that often, since Taekwoon and Sanghyuk always preferred to meet up at his house, the younger claimed it was more homely. He wasn’t wrong, Taekwoon’s house was very beautiful, but it was almost too polished, the decorations and furniture were predominantly black and white, most of the details in either marble or glass. Looked like the house from some movie spy, modern, clean and insanely guarded with technology and actual physical borders, very Taekwoon inspired.

Jaehwan threw himself on the couch and went through his phone as he waited for Taekwoon to get home so they could talk. The older insisted he wanted to go to meet Jisoo alone, he said he would tell Jaehwan everything later, which he didn’t understand but didn’t particularly mind it either. Taekwoon was a very private person and Jaehwan was not, but he respected his friend. Sometimes he wished to know why he acted the way he did, why Taekwoon couldn’t sleep most nights, why was his house a fortress, but those were all the subjects the older seemed to avoid. Jaehwan knew it was not lack of trust, they had been through thick and thin together, but Taekwoon had a lot of problems with talking about himself and his past seemed to have left some deep marks.

Jaehwan heard keys on the door and turned his head to it, still lying on the couch. “Hello, sweetpea, how was work today?” Jaehwan said with a high pitched voice as soon as the door opened, Taekwoon snorted, stepping inside his own house with not a slight hint of surprise at the reception. “Won’t you give your man a kiss?” Jaehwan raised his arms up, open as if he was waiting for Taekwoon to come and cuddle him.

“Did you wait a lot?” Taekwoon asked with a low tone, placing his coat on a chair and walking slowly to where Jaehwan was now sitting.

Jaehwan shook his head, dropping his arms. “Ten minutes tops.” The younger looked at Taekwoon’s posture, he was tense, standing awkwardly in front of him instead of sitting on the couch, he looked almost tired, like his energy was drained. “How was the talk?” he asked with a calm voice, even if the answer to that was obvious.

Taekwoon sighed. “Let’s go upstairs,” he said randomly and Jaehwan furrowed his brows. He knew the only thing there was on the second floor were bedrooms and storage rooms, the best place for them to talk would be where they were.

“Why?” Jaehwan asked, standing up to follow his friend who was already going up the stairs without any further explanation.

Taekwoon smiled. “I’m going to make your dream come true,” he said in a whisper and Jaehwan stopped walking, just like he expected.

Jaehwan was firm in his answer. “My dream of fucking you has been dead for a while now, just so you know.” He was very confused, considering not going up the stairs at all.

“You’re not the one fucking me,” Taekwoon said like he was serious, looking down at his partner standing in the middle of the stairs like he was frozen. The older couldn’t help to laugh. “I’m messing with you, Jaehwan,” he said like it was obvious, tapping his nails on the glass balcony at the top of the stairway.

Jaehwan raised his brow. “Your sense of humor gets weird when you’re upset,” he murmured, climbing the rest of the steps and meeting his friend at the top. His voice was back to normal when he spoke again. “Do you want to show me something?” he made a guess, looking at the end of the hall to see if anything was different.

“Not really.” Taekwoon walked towards one of the doors that was closed.

When Jaehwan visited the house for the first time Taekwoon told him the reason why that particular door was closed was because it was mainly for storage and was always a dusty mess, which he said with such a casual tone Jaehwan had no reason to believe otherwise. He never had any particular reasons to doubt it, but as Taekwoon unlocked the door with his key and opened, he realized maybe he should have.

Jaehwan’s jaw dropped when he looked inside, he was so mesmerized he had no time to feel like an idiot. The room was not as big as some others in the house, but it was big enough to comfortably fit a grand piano and a sitting area with 2 couches and a coffee table. The place itself was different from any other in the house, there was a colorful rug under the black piano and some paintings hanging on the wall, the detailing of the furniture in a light tone wood giving it a cozy feel. Jaehwan turned to Taekwoon with a shocked expression, hoping he would explain why was he getting to see that.

“Hakyeon likes to snoop around,” Taekwoon walked to one of the couches and sat on it, bringing his feet up. Jaehwan was still standing and staring at everything closely, like he wanted to make sure they were real. “Since the walls are soundproof here,” he pointed to the piano to clarify. “If he wanted to hear something we would see him opening the door, so.”

Jaehwan blinked. “Is he here?” He walked over to the piano, it was astonishing to even imagine Taekwoon playing it.

“He is, probably sleeping in the guest room.” Taekwoon watched him go around the room. He was surprised Jaehwan was not touching and moving everything around, but just looking closely like he was in a museum, which was very unusual behavior for the younger. “He said he couldn’t sleep at home since those people have his address and he can’t exactly tell his family, so he asked me if was okay to spend some time here, he’s staying for as long as he likes,” he finished. When Jaehwan lifted his arm to grab one of the sheets at the piano that had some very private original songs he spoke again. “Why are you so quiet?” Jaehwan dropped his arm and turned to him.

“Can’t you tell I’m shocked?” Jaehwan pointed to his own face, hoping that would be enough of a point made. When he saw the older’s expression he was reminded he wasn’t feeling well.

Taekwoon watched him come back and sit in the couch in front of him, giving him a faint smile. “It’s nice, I know.” Taekwoon patted his hand on the couch, resting it there afterward. Jaehwan watched him curiously, looking exhausted on a Saturday before midnight, the talk with Jisoo had really taken a toll on him.

“What’s wrong, Taekwoon?” Jaehwan just asked him directly, there was no point in going in circles, he could tell something was bothering him.

His face didn’t change as he replied. “I asked Jisoo about the job, he told me everything.”

Jaehwan nodded. “Okay, now you tell me, cause I don’t know,” he said sincerely, he had no idea.

Taekwoon cleaned his throat. “It’s a mass drug trafficking scheme-” his voice was barely a whisper. “Cocaine.”

Jaehwan sighed, he knew it was something along those lines, that’s why he had said no to Jisoo in the first place. “And you’re okay with that?”

Through their careers, Taekwoon would always say he did not want to contribute to drug schemes, which seemed odd to his partner considering all the other things they did. Jaehwan was good at reading people, even more so if they were close to him, and he saw the way the older would get even at the sight of drugs. Taekwoon was very convincing for people he didn’t know, but it was obvious to his partner and friend how much he hated when they were working and had to see people snorting coke or shooting up heroin in front of their eyes, having to make it seem casual if nothing else. When asked about it, Taekwoon would say he grew up seeing it and had bad memories tied to it, but would not elaborate more than that. Jaehwan didn’t pressure him.

Taekwoon didn’t move as he answered the question, stiff. “Yes-” _Liar._ “I’ll deal with it.”

“What could Jisoo tell you about it?” Jaehwan asked.

Taekwoon seemed repulsed by his own words. “It’s Himeji’s doing-” Jaehwan turned his eyes, he wasn’t a fan of those people, the tone in Taekwoon’s voice left no doubt he wasn’t too. “But they have a big administrator behind them this time, someone capable of taking care of it. The plan is producing here in Seoul and smuggling it all back to Japan.”

“Cocaine, they are expanding.” Jaehwan upper lip was slightly raised in disgust. He knew that gang had always been specialized in meth.

Taekwoon turned his eyes. “Yes.”

“Is the pay not enough?” Jaehwan asked, wondering if that’s why he looked so upset.

Taekwoon shook his head. “It is enough, but there are a few catches.” When Jaehwan didn’t question and waited for him to continue, he did. “The amount Hakyeon owes the game is 200 million won.” The other nodded, he knew that. “But the rat also made a hole on his bank account, not only Yeon has nothing, but he has a debt with the bank of 150 million too.”

“Fuck, 350 million is a lot-” he said, knowing that was a little over the amount he had now he’d bought his house and car. A lot of money to gamble in months. “But you said the pay is enough, so what’s the problem, is it too dangerous or something?” he asked as if every job they did was not dangerous.

The older swallowed dry, Jaehwan frowned. “My first problem is- I can’t do it without you, the pay is high because they want the golden duo, half of it is not enough,” Taekwoon said slowly, fidgeting with his fingers. “It has to be the both of us.”

Jaehwan laughed. “Were you under the impression that I wasn’t going in with you?” he asked with a casual tone. “Even if I have to work for the Himeji,” he put his tongue out, “I’m with you, you know that.”

Even if that wasn’t a surprising answer, a weight fell off Taekwoon’s shoulders, he was overwhelmed with gratitude for having Jaehwan beside him. The younger had agreed to help him without knowing how long, how hard or how dangerous the job would be, that was a lot more than he could ever ask for from anyone. Taekwoon hated he was having to drag Jaehwan deeper into his mess, but whatever way he looked at it, he couldn’t solve it by himself.

“If that’s your problem, you’ve got no problem,” Jaehwan said, thinking it was that simple. “Now, can you play for me?” he asked, looking at the piano.

Taekwoon shook his head. “Jae, it will be months long and you would have to tie your reputation with things you don’t necessarily-” he began explaining but Jaehwan interrupted him.

“Taekwoon,” he said then chuckled. “I wouldn’t let you go solo for months even if you begged me to. This- is like a marriage.” He pointed to himself, then to his friend and Taekwoon snorted, finding the analogy funny. “It is! Until death do us part.” Taekwoon’s smile turned into a glare, he didn’t like when Jaehwan joked about those sort of things. “So, what’s your second problem?” he said casually, Taekwoon’s glare softened and the tired expression returned.

Taekwoon was taking in deep breaths, he looked almost ashamed somehow. “It’s too-” His voice was so low it was almost a whisper, brows furrowed, conflicted. He looked so vulnerable, Jaehwan was confused. “I don’t know if I can do this to him, it’ll make me an even worse person-” he blurted out, avoiding his friend’s eyes. “I don’t know if I can-”

Jaehwan interrupted his rambling. “What is it?”

Taekwoon sighed. “We would solve everything, take out whoever suspects what’s happening and has the power to stop it. Protect the production and the Himeji too. The pay for us two is 250 million,” he said, Jaehwan raised his brow, he thought Taekwoon said the money was enough.

“That’s a lot, but that’s still short on 100 million, Taek.” He pointed out the obvious.

Taekwoon then continued, feeling a knot form in his throat. “It’s a huge amount of coke, so big they are smuggling it out of Korea by sea first, then by air.” He hoped Jaehwan would understand and he wouldn’t have to say it. When he just stared, Taekwoon pushed out the rest of the words, short of breath. “They need a pilot.”

“Oh.” Jaehwan bit his lip.

Taekwoon lowered his head and closed his eyes. He felt so useless, so trapped. He couldn’t believe the only way of saving Hakyeon would be to drag him into the dirt, the choice he’d made that killed a part of his soul. Hakyeon was so bright, so innocent in that sense, Taekwoon felt selfish to even bring him the proposal. How could he?

Jaehwan got up and sat next to his friend, placing a hand on his back and rubbing it lightly. Taekwoon felt tears welling up in his eyes, he wanted to push Jaehwan away so they would disappear, but found himself leaning into the touch.

“I’m sorry, Taek,” he said with a soft tone, feeling his friend’s heavy breathing against his hand. “I know if that’s the final plan, it’s the only way-” Taekwoon nodded, keeping his head low. There was no other option, it was too much money in too little time. “None of this must be easy for you, for starters, I know how much you hate what you’re getting into and I know how much you want to protect Hakyeon, I mean, that has been your priority since the first day we’ve met.”

“I’m scared of what this will do to him, Jae, he is not us-” he murmured, Jaehwan caressed him again. “We are strong and we are used to this. It would be like having Hyukie inside, he is tough but he’s not prepared to see the amount of shit that happens.”

Jaehwan nodded, he had thought the same thing. “I know.”

“How can I tell him this is his only way out after all that he’s been through?” Taekwoon made a pause, the room remained silent until he continued. “The things he will see, what he will have to experience, I can’t protect him from it. All the scars he’ll be left with will be on me,” he whispered, voice wavering until the end, but he held the tears in.

His speech was of worry of his soulmate, but Jaehwan could tell how frustrated he was with himself. The man who always took matters in his own hands, powerless, forced to bend his knees. However, when you take in all the responsibility, you take all the guilt that comes with it too.

“Taekwoon,” Jaehwan took his hand away, waiting for his friend to raise his head so he could continue. “This is not on you, this is some dumbass’ doing and you are trying to _fix it_.” He emphasized. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Taekwoon shook his head, denying it. “Don’t disagree with me, you know I’m right. This is the only way, Taek, we’ll have to face it.”

Taekwoon knew Jaehwan was right, he always tended to shift the blame to himself, seemed like he was doing it for all his life. All that had happened, even as a small child, he attributed to something he’d done. If he got beat it was because he didn’t behave, if he got locked in his room without dinner it was because he didn’t work hard enough, when his sister died it was because of what he did in the first place. Old habits die hard, but voices from your past don’t die at all.

“You’ve always told me how strong Hakyeon is,” Jaehwan said, pulling Taekwoon back from the dark place in his mind. “So don’t underestimate him, he can handle it.”

At that moment the door that led to the piano room opened, both men turned their heads to it. “Taekwoon?” Hakyeon’s voice was drowsy, squeezing his eyes shut due to the bright light coming from the room.

Hakyeon’s had the covers from the bed wrapped around his shoulders, covering him down to his feet, but when he realized Taekwoon was not alone he pulled them even closer to his body.

“Oh, sh- sorry.” His eyes widened a bit, wondering if he should have knocked. “Hi, Ken.” Hakyeon watched the distance between the two, the possibility of having interrupted something crossing his mind.

Jaehwan laughed at his reaction. “Hello.” He found it funny how he still called him Ken after finding out his real name.

Taekwoon got up from the couch so he could get closer to Hakyeon, standing in front of him as he spoke with a gentle tone. “Why are you up, do you need anything?”

Hakyeon shook his head. “I was tossing and turning so I got up to see if you wanted to watch a movie, since you don’t sleep anyways, but since you’re working-” It sounded like a question more than anything. “That’s fine.”

He gave Taekwoon a faint smile, then took one of his arms out from the blanket to cover a yawn with his hand. Jaehwan noticed the reason why he had a death grip on the blanket was that he didn’t have a shirt on, when Hakyeon moved he caught a glimpse of the orange rose on his stomach.

“I’m not working. Jaehwan it’s not just my partner, Yeon, he is my friend too. We are together a lot.” He clarified.

Hakyeon thought he understood something, squinting his eyes at his soulmate. He didn’t blame Taekwoon, he thought Jaehwan was beautiful from the first time he ever saw him.

A cheeky grin spread across Hakyeon’s lips. “Then maybe I should go watch my movie and leave you to your-” he glanced at Jaehwan then back at his soulmate’s face, “friends stuff.”

When Hakyeon winked at Taekwoon Jaehwan burst into laughter, his partner turned to look at him with a pink tint on his cheeks. The look on his face was as if he was telling him to shut up and not support Hakyeon.

“You really are a piece of work, Hakyeon, my god,” Jaehwan said, not ashamed but rather amused by the older’s boldness.

“What?” he said looking at Jaehwan, sounding sincere. “I wouldn’t want to interrupt this sincere friendship moment-” he looked back at Taekwoon, whose face was now all red. “In the piano room.” He completed with an ironic tone. Jaehwan laughed harder, feeling it come up from his stomach, Hakyeon found himself laughing with him.

Taekwoon stepped forwards as if he was implying he was going to hit Hakyeon, but it was just an old habit he’d carried, his soulmate found it cute since he had no reason to fear him. The ones that did, however, were terrified of it.

“If I really had an interest in him my first move would be keeping him away from you.” Taekwoon glared at him from up close, but let Hakyeon wrap an arm around his waist and pull him in for a hug. “You’re ridiculous.”

“So you were not seducing him with your songs?” Hakyeon joked placing his chin on his friend’s shoulder, tipping his head with an innocent look.

Taekwoon turned his eyes. “No, Hakyeon,” he responded with a patient tone. “But ever since you’ve told him about me playing he wouldn’t shut up about it, so I let him see the piano.” He lied, Jaehwan went with it and nodded.

“Have you played him anything?” Hakyeon murmured, curious.

Taekwoon snorted. “No.”

Hakyeon pouted, using a mocking tone. “Are you afraid he might fall for you?” Jaehwan chuckled.

Taekwoon placed his cold fingers at his soulmate’s neck so he would loosen his grip. Jaehwan watched the interaction from a distance, they seemed close, in the same wavelength. Taekwoon was so careful around Hakyeon, it was a sensitive side Jaehwan didn’t often see it on him. The way Taekwoon looked at Hakyeon made Jaehwan wonder if there was something there, or if there ever was.

“I’m joking,” Hakyeon said, pulling away from his friend and wrapping himself up again. “He’s much more fun than you are.”

“Thank you!” Jaehwan replied loudly, crossing his legs and raising his arms. “I don’t think he gives me any recognition.” Taekwoon sighed, regretting the moment he introduced the two.

“His ego really didn’t need that.” Taekwoon sulked.

Hakyeon laughed at his friend reaction. “Anyway, what kind of movies do you like, Jaehwan? If it’s up to him we’ll only ever watch musicals or documentaries-” Jaehwan smiled, that was accurate from what he knew too. “and since you’re not working or flirting, you could stay with us for the movie.” he leaned on the doorframe casually. Taekwoon huffed out a laugh, it was like he was a teenager embarrassed by his mom.

Jaehwan glanced at Taekwoon and got up, he shouldn’t stay for the important and private conversation he and Hakyeon were about to have. “I would love to stay and annoy him with you, but I was leaving.” he locked his fingers in front of his body.

“Oh, why?” Hakyeon asked, pulling up the covers that had started to slip due to their weight and show his collarbones. Jaehwan had noticed.

“I need to have an important talk with someone today,” Jaehwan said looking at Hakyeon. From up close he could see the purple spots around the cut on his cheek, still present after a week.

“Stay.” Taekwoon surprised him when he responded. “You can solve that tomorrow.” He looked his friend in the eye.

Jaehwan understood the message: Taekwoon didn’t want to deal with anything else that night. Jaehwan smiled at his partner, throwing his arm around his shoulder and leading them out of the room. “Fine, but I’m not watching Mata Hari again.”

\--

“I can’t believe I did that,” Hongbin said, sitting on the couch after storming into Wonsik’s apartment with his own keys, bringing both hands to his head. “Oh my god, if my dad finds out I’m so dead.” He was staring at the floor, fingers pulling on the hair on the side of his head.

Wonsik was turning on his computer when his friend walked in without announcing himself and startled him, when he looked back Hongbin was already sitting on the couch, looking like he was about to have a mental breakdown.

Wonsik’s voice was calm. “Has anyone ever caught up to us? Relax.” Hongbin looked up at him, wanting to throw a cushion at his face for being so unfazed through the situation. “No one is going to find out.” He turned his eyes back to his unusually tidy desk, opening the first drawer and grabbing the gadgets he would use.

“I know, I just feel like a criminal,” Hongbin murmured, staring at the floor again.

“Technically we are, this is very illegal.” Hongbin glared, he couldn’t believe how casual he’d sounded whilst saying those words. “Look, we’re not bribing them or stealing from them in any form, this is just-” Wonsik shrugged his shoulders. “Taking a peek at their stuff, no one will have any reason to suspect what we are doing.”

This was Hongbin’s last resource, he wouldn’t ask Wonsik to look into one of his clients if he didn’t think something was very wrong. The problem was Jongup and Himchan just kept getting weirder and weirder, their way of acting and slip-ups over the week just got way too suspicious for the boy, so he asked his friend to help.

“Did both of them click it?” Wonsik asked, walking over to his friend.

To invade someone’s private computer or cellphone just through a wireless network is very hard with all security those have in the present day, but is not as difficult if you’re Kim Wonsik and you manage to get them to click a link with a malicious code in.

Hongbin shook his head. “No, just Jongup, they both saw it through his phone.”

“That’s the one that stared at your butt, right?” he asked and Hongbin scoffed, nodding his head. “I need him to get home or work to access a wifi network, we need to wait a bit,” Wonsik explained, going to sit next to him on the couch.

When Wonsik settled in, Hongbin looked at him. “Thanks for doing this for me, you know I wouldn’t ask you if I didn’t have to.”

“It’s fine, I’m not busy anyway, just doing some research for my paper.” Wonsik smiled at him. “This didn’t take a lot of my time.”

“And how is that going?” Hongbin tried to distract himself from his racing heart by talking to his friend about his life. “Have you met soulmate again?”

Wonsik’s smile spread across his face, wide and warm. “Not yet, but we’ve been texting a lot. He has been really patient with me, I ask so much stupid stuff.” Hongbin huffed out a laugh.

“I bet he thinks you’re playing dumb to flirt with him,” Hongbin said with a smug smile on his lips, the other’s expression became of worry.

“Oh my god, you think so?” Wonsik bit his lip, frowning.

Hongbin tried to ease his mind. “I guess that’s not bad considering you won’t ever be able to flirt with him for real.” He pointed out the fact of how shy the other was.

Wonsik laughed, feeling better about it. “That’s true. I still can’t believe it, I’ve been waking up smiling these last few days, seriously.” Hongbin snorted, rolling his eyes.

“This story is so perfect for you, crushing on your partner at first sight, then he happens to be your soulmate who is just as smart as you are. In no time you’ll be preparing romantic surprises-” he stopped talking when Wonsik bit his lip, looking guilty. “Oh my god, you’re planning something already?” His mouth fell open in shock, it was ridiculous how well he knew his best friend.

“Maybe?” Hongbin laughed loudly. “No- listen.” He grabbed his friend’s arm so he would look at him. “He told me he has a 12-hour shift at the hospital tomorrow and he leaves at 9 pm, so I was thinking I could surprise him when he leaves and take him for a proper first date,” he said, Hongbin was laughing again.

“It’s cute, go for it.” He supported the idea, he knew how much Wonsik had hoped he would find his soulmate to go all out and do those sort of things.

Wonsik talked about it since they were kids, falling in love, getting married, building a family, being a dad. All the things Hongbin was horrified of and wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole.

Wonsik smiled, setting his mind after Hongbin encouraged him. “I’ll figure something out.”

At that moment Wonsik’s computer beeped, the boy looked at it and the next second he was on his feet checking its origin, startling Hongbin.

“What?” Hongbin asked with wide eyes, surprised at his friend’s fast reaction.

Wonsik smiled, pulling his chair closer to the table. “Hot-for-Hongbin just connected to his wifi, we’re in business,” he said and Hongbin’s heart skipped a beat.

Hongbin got up from the couch and stood up next to his friend, watching him type fast after connecting one of the gadgets to the computer. Lines of disconnected letters, icons and numbers began to appear at the screen and Wonsik started to look for something specific, Hongbin had no idea what it was.

“Bingo,” Wonsik said once he found it, typing in a password that reorganized the random letters into phrases that made sense. It seemed like he was accessing files on his computer, the information organized by lists. “We’re in his phone.”

Hongbin started to read, they were named after things he knew, categories like ‘photos and videos’ and also smartphone apps like ‘spotify’ and ‘youtube’. His mouth was dry, he felt so wrong doing it, invading someone’s privacy like that, but he kept repeating it was his last option.

“Where do we go first?” Wonsik asked glancing at Hongbin.

Hongbin pointed at the screen, at one of the four chatting apps he could see. He had no idea why someone would ever need that many. But he would soon find out. “I don’t know which one he mainly uses to talk to Himchan, check this first,” he said and Wonsik nodded, clicking on the file, opening something like a real chat on a phone screen, making it easy to read.

“Daehyun- Yongguk- Junhong- Himchan,” Wonsik mouthed the names until he found what he was looking for, clicking twice on his name.

The talk was something about a weekend trip to Japan, saying they should stop by ‘the house’ when they are back in the country to ‘solve the landing’. As Hongbin read the use of ‘our’ to refer to Japan the words that Chansik had told him the day he did the research came back to his mind _‘-like they had just started their life here? No public employment record, new bank accounts’._

“They are Japanese,” Hongbin whispered, realizing why their record on Korea was so sparse. Probably sons of Koreans that immigrated to Japan, since they both spoke korean like natives. “Sik, can you search my name or the company's? Maybe we can see some conversations about what they are buying our stuff for.”

"Sure." Wonsik nodded and typed Hongbin’s name first. Surprisingly, his name appeared in conversations that were _not_ with Himchan, the first 5 mentions that appeared were with a contact name Youngjae. Wonsik clicked on it.

The mentions of Hongbin’s names in the conversations with Youngjae were less than professional. It seemed like Jongup was just talking to a friend. About a guy he wanted to sleep with. Desperately.

Wonsik pointed to a message so he didn’t have to read it. “Holy shit.” Hongbin felt a flush rising to his cheeks as he read Jongup’s messages saying how much he wanted to pin him against a wall and strip him of his snobby attitude. The texts were borderline aggressive, Jongup talked about him in a very filthy explicit manner, like what he desired most was to possess him. “Ok, we’re staying away from Youngjae’s chats, I don’t want to read that ever again,” he said after he saw a very pornographic text. Wonsik cleared his throat.

“Let’s stick to Himchan’s,” Hongbin managed to say, Wonsik nodded without looking at him. The first text where Hongbin’s name was mentioned in their conversation was from the day they’d met, Jongup asked if Himchan knew that Hongbin was going to be ‘clueless’, to which he responded _‘no,_ _i_ _thought joohyuk_ _would need his help to organize shit out’._

Wonsik glanced at Hongbin. “Is he talking about your dad not filling you in on the contract?”

“I don’t know,” Hongbin mumbled. “Could be. Maybe they picked up on how lost I was.” He took a guess. Wonsik moved to the next mention of his friend’s name.

Jongup and Himchan seemed to be arguing about something Joohyuk had lied to them about, they were upset and considering dropping the deal since they would have to _‘settle for hongbin’_. He was confused again, his father did not lie to clients.

“What do they mean _settle_ for me?” Hongbin raised his brow, half confused half offended.

Wonsik shook his head. “Jongup says here, ‘ _it might be better because he is younger, it’s less suspicious’._ You were right, Bin, there is definitely something weird about this.” They exchanged looks.

Hongbin swallowed dry, a part of him still hoped he was wrong, that he was overreacting. He continued reading the conversation, Himchan was not pleased about Hongbin ‘taking over the deal’, but Hongbin had not taken over anything, in fact, he still didn’t even know much about it. Apparently, his father had informed Jongup and Himchan that Hongbin would be solving all personal things from then on, without even informing him first.

Hongbin was confused by how much information he was receiving. His father often made decisions for him regardless of his personal wishes, but he would eventually tell his son. If Hongbin was supposed to be taking over that deal completely, he hoped his father would have at least told him so he could prepare for it. Had he decided to pass the responsibility to Hongbin and step out of the deal he had made such an effort in closing, it didn’t make sense to the boy.

“You’re taking over?” Wonsik asked, confused.

“No! I mean, not that I know off. What is Himchan even on about, he keeps saying I’m gonna mess things up, but I’m just there for the meetings.” Hongbin complained, upset.

“I don’t know,” Wonsik mumbled. “To be honest he just seems upset with Jongup, obviously he wants you to be a part of this deal, but Himchan is skeptical about it.” He pointed to a text where Himchan was being petty about Hongbin taking over the deal, supporting his theory. “He thinks you’re inexperienced.”

“Great.” Hongbin scoffed. “I need to see them for a least another month and I think one of them hates me.” _Whilst the other wants to fuck me_ , the thought went through his mind but got stuck in his throat. He had no idea how to deal with that situation.

He read some other conversation Wonsik had opened, with someone called Daehyun: _is all that red hair dye messing with your head? you’re like the president and the first lady, of course yongguk will be in charge of the deal, he is always in charge of us. don’t overthink this, enjoy the rest of your little tropical honeymoon, i’ve got this._ Hongbin finished reading the text Jongup had sent, surprised not only to see he was not actually the boss of everything, but that the boss was someone he’d never heard of.

Wonsik typed the company’s name, hoping they could get more information. The first mention was two months before they had come in for the first meeting. Himchan had questioned if Jellyfish would be the best choice, to which Jongup responded _‘yes, the ceo is already dirty, he will have no problem jumping in on this’_. Hongbin’s heart dropped.

“W-what do they mean?” Hongbin shuttered, Wonsik wasn’t quite sure what to reply, but they were both left speechless when he scrolled down and the rest of the conversation was revealed.

Himchan said _‘wire fraud and extortion are a given for him, i’m not sure about the murder of the busan feds everyone talks about, tho’_ to which, to Hongbin’s horror, Jongup replied _‘that’s true, chanie, i know the guy who iced them. he told me joohyuk paid almost a half a billion for the job’_.

Hongbin had turned as white as paper, taking two steps back and stumbling at the edge of the couch. He had completely forgotten about the other crimes his father had supposedly committed when he read that he had ordered for someone’s death. He felt his stomach turn, that had to be a lie, his father could never do that.

“Oh- m-” Hongbin’s limbs felt numb, he closed his eyes, his head throbbing painfully.

Wonsik looked at him. “That can’t be true.” He tried to ease Hongbin’s mind.

“Why would they be talking about it in private like that if it wasn't, Wonsik?” he responded in a heartbeat, staring at his friend. “They couldn’t have known anyone would ever read this, it makes no sense for them to lie.”

Wonsik couldn’t find another argument, that was true. It didn’t make sense for two friends to create a fake conversation in a private chat.

As fast as Hongbin lost control, he regained it, pushing down the urge to throw up and walking over to where Wonsik was again. “What else do they say?” he asked with a cold tone after taking a deep breath.

The conversation between the two had shifted its course, Himchan started to ask questions about the person that Jongup mentioned he knew, that killed the feds on Joohyuk’s orders. He explained it was an old acquaintance of him, they had worked together before.

“What kind of work do you do with an assassin?” Wonsik asked, feeling himself getting more and more scared. The hope he had was finding out Himchan and Jongup were up to something on Hongbin and his dad, not that they were the kind of people that were old friends with murderers.

“Put in dad’s name.” Hongbin ignored Wonsik’s question, seemingly more worried about making sure the accusations that were being made on his dad were true than finding out anything else on Jongup and Himchan. He couldn’t care less anymore.

Wonsik didn’t question him, doing as he was told and opening a conversation that had Joohyuk’s name on it. It was three weeks before the first meeting, Himchan and Jongup had gone around and asked their ‘connections’ information about Joohyuk to be sure he was ‘their guy’, someone who could keep their mouth shut and had never been caught for any of his dirt inside and out of business. They talked about all kinds of little schemes, from Joohyuk deceiving clients to using hidden clauses in contracts to bribing police so they would cover up his tracks and no one would ever find out. Hongbin felt anger building inside him, he had gone past the point of surprise then, he felt betrayed and lied to.

His dad had always taught him hard work pays off, how persistence and patience would eventually lead you to success. He had shaped and trimmed Hongbin since he was a teenager to be an ideal successor, to never lie to clients, to never omit information from them, to strive for perfection. He would point out daily how flawed Hongbin was, that his strong personality had to be tamed or else the boy would only find failure in his life. Hongbin was not good enough as he was. Joohyuk had poured all his frustrations into his son, he had taught him that his duty was to obey and never question him, he was what Hongbin was supposed to aim to be in the future, his role model.

“Fuck this,” Hongbin said through his teeth, turning away from Wonsik and stumping towards the door.

Wonsik got up immediately. “Where are you going?” he asked confused, holding his friend’s arm so he would stop.

“Where does it look?” he responded, Wonsik still didn’t let go of him. “I’m going home so he can explain to me what is this shitshow about.” He tried to shake off the touch.

Wonsik only held him tighter, furrowing his brows. “Hongbin, for the love of god, don’t be an idiot, you can’t go home like this. If you get to him in this state you know you’re gonna say something that will get you beat up.” he knew that wasn’t an unlikely scenario, Joohyuk would often lose his temper and take out on his son.

“I don’t care.” Hongbin knew he was going to get beat the moment he decided to confront his father. “I’m going home, I’m going to tell him all I know and he is going to tell _me_ everything he has done.” Wonsik thought he was delusional.

Hongbin was always controlled when it came to work-related things, well trained, he had learned to follow a script, had a set of rules. However, when it was outside of work he had no rules to follow and that resulted in him losing control over his emotions easily, it was like holding on one end too much made it backlash on the other.

Wonsik’s heart was beating fast, he was afraid for his friend, but tried to keep a calm tone so he sounded somewhat like the voice of reason Hongbin’s mind was missing. “Binnie, please stay here for a little bit so you cool down, then you go and talk to him, there is nothing you’ll gain from going to talk to him this stressed.”

Hongbin wasn’t even listening, every minute he spent there was a minute he could be confronting his father. The only voice he was listening to was from the anger burning inside him. “Please don’t blame yourself for not being able to stop me,” he said pulling Wonsik’s hand as gently as he could from his shirt. Wonsik shook his head, interrupting Hongbin and asking him to stay, he continued louder than his pleads. “But I need to do this _now_.”

Wonsik loosened his grip, his friend had made up his mind. Hongbin grabbed his shoes and looked back at his friend, staring at him whilst he stood in the middle of the living room, totally defeated expression on his face.

Hongbin bit his lips. “I’m sorry,” he said and left before Wonsik made him consider staying again.

\--

Hongbin pushed the door to the house roughly, storming inside and looking around so he could maybe spot his father somewhere. The 30-minute cab ride home didn’t make him calmer, if anything he used the 30 minutes to work himself up, to think about all the things he wanted to say. That’s the curious thing about your mind, it likes to work against you.

He didn’t even look at the rooms downstairs, he knew where his father was. He climbed the stairs two steps at a time, his heart racing more and more as he reached the top, feeling the encounter coming closer. He was so furious he had lost sense of anything else other than his feelings, he needed to see his father, he needed to spit out the words stuck at his throat, it didn’t matter at what cost. He walked the long mansion hallway until he reached the end, his father’s office, opening the door without knocking and letting himself in.

The moment he saw his father’s startled expression his emotions seemed to have reached their peak, his heart was beating so strong in his chest it made his blood seem like it was boiling. “What the hell are you doing?” Joohyuk asked when Hongbin slammed the door shut.

“I need to talk to you,” Hongbin grunted, pulling the scarf off his neck roughly and throwing it on the floor, it was making him feel like there was not enough air reaching his lungs.

Joohyuk didn’t stand up from his chair, sitting with a straight posture as he watched his son have what he assumed was another one of his tantrums. His calm voice as he responded only made Hongbin’s blood hotter. “I’m listening.”

Hongbin started to spit out words, the veins in his neck popping from the effort he was making to keep his voice down and not bring his mother into the room. “You’ve always told me the best thing a man can have is his honor, that when you’re working being true to honesty is the most important thing.” The words he’d heard so many times before just sounded ridiculous at that moment. Joohyuk was just listening in silence, waiting for his brat son to get to the point. “So how come you’re a filthy liar?”

“What did you just say to me?” He got up from his chair, not looking half as angry as his son, but rather a put together version of anger, like he could hurt his son with his glare. Hongbin didn’t bat an eyelash.

“Please, save the beating for the end so you can just do it in one go,” he said and then added the last part with a smug on his face. “Hopefully you manage to channel all of your frustrations at once and kill me this time, rooting for you, champ.” Joohyuk was genuinely surprised at his son’s words, he would lose his temper often but never got the courage to say those kinds of things.

The relationship they had was not the best example of a healthy father and son relationship. Joohyuk had always expected too much of Hongbin and pressured him into changing himself into something he deemed perfect. He didn’t show affection and the only times he would look for his son was when he wanted to complain about something he didn’t do right. Hongbin grew up hating his parents, they didn’t verbalize it but their actions made it clear he was an accident, he never truly felt cared for, needed. His only use was to keep the business going, keep it in the family. The boy always tried his best, hoping maybe if he proved he was capable, his parents would acknowledge him, love him.

“What has gotten into you today?” Joohyuk frowned, Hongbin smiled.

“Glad you asked, father.” He had apparently unlocked a new level of anger, might be a final boss, because he didn’t think there was any way he could get away with being that sarcastic with his father in a normal scenario and not pee his pants out of fear. “Maybe I just found out about some of your dirty work and I’m really not happy about it.”

Joohyuk kept his face neutral as he responded. “Have you found out about Himchan and Jongup?”

Hongbin leaned back on the wall behind him. “Good guess, but no, we’ll get to that later,” he responded, feeling the familiar heat of anger coming up his throat, like a volcano about to explode. “I’m talking about you stealing from clients, bribing the police.” Joohyuk’s face fell. “Fraud and last but not least, extortion,” he finished, watching the shift of his father’s expression kill the last hope he had that was a misunderstanding. The sheer surprise in someone’s face after being caught doing something wrong leaves no room for doubt. “Dad,-” his voice broke, “how could you.”

Joohyuk shook his head. “How did you found out?” he asked with a faint voice.

Joohyuk had been dealing with the possibility of his son finding out about the things surrounding the deal with Jongup and Himchan, but he had no idea he could go that far back and find out about all the things he had done before.

Hongbin huffed air out of his nose. “That doesn’t matter,” he said truthfully, that was the last thing he should be worrying about. “Why do you even give me all those speeches about how truth is the priority, how the traditional values are the important-” He couldn’t finish his sentence, feeling like he would start crying.

Joohyuk laughed. “Would you rather have me teaching you how to trick and lie to people, Hongbin? To break the law?” H\e sat on the chair again, rubbing the space between his eyes. “I couldn’t do that, it’s like a bomb countdown for the company, use your brain for once.” he came back to the familiar degrading of his son, back to his normal state. “I needed someone to take over that would end this mess that I’ve created and keep Jellyfish alive.”

Hongbin was shocked again, his eyes were so wide he probably looked like a cartoon version of himself. “What the f- Are you seriously telling me you didn’t teach me to follow your steps because it’s bad for business?” _And not because I’m your son?_ he didn’t say the rest. “This is beyond fucked up.”

Joohyuk raised his eyes from the ground, letting Hongbin’s language slide since he was shocked. “I believe the values I teach you, Hongbin, but sometimes I can’t follow them,” he said still with a calm voice, Hongbin was getting annoyed at how casual his father was being about the situation when he felt like his world was falling apart around him.

“This is-” Hongbin raised his hand to his head, wanting to pull his hair off. “Insane. I don’t even know how to feel about this. Aren’t you afraid of getting caught?” he asked with a sad tone, watching his father relaxed posture. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll end up sending mom and me to prison too?” 

Joohyuk frowned. “I have always kept you out of it until now, there was no way you or your mother would get caught for my actions.” Hongbin’s heart skipped a beat.

“Until now?” He felt a chill go through his body.

Joohyuk stared at him then took a deep breath. “I was expecting this conversation today, but not like this. Sit.” Hongbin did nothing other than blink. “Fine, stand, you brat.”

Hongbin was so irritated by the fact that even taking into consideration how hard this must be for him, his father was not treating him any differently. He was not caring about his feelings, opinions, had not comforted him or even shown him the least of respect.

“This time you will have to be more of a man than you’ve ever been,” he began and Hongbin did not believe he was about to get a speech then, of all times. “The company needs you, I need you. This deal is what is going to save Jellyfish.”

“From what?” Hongbin raised his brow.

“Bankruptcy,” he said and Hongbin’s stomach jolted.

“Jellyfish is broke?” He felt the despair sinking in.

“No.” Hongbin had a second of relief. “But we haven’t been doing good and we are going to be broke by the end of the year if I don’t get this 19 billion,” he explained, crossing his legs and waiting for his son’s reaction.

Through all the information Hongbin’s brain still worked. “The deal is 17 billion won, dad,” he said under his breath.

Joohyuk exhaled loudly. “Your work as an administrator for the next few months is going to be worth the other 2 billion.”

Hongbin gritted his teeth. “Administration for what?” he asked annoyed. What was he not telling him? _Who would even pay 2 billion for management,_ he asked himself.

Joohyuk didn’t flinch. “Jongup and Himchan will be producing something to export, but it’s in large scale, like I’ve never seen before in the country.” Hongbin was annoyed, on top of everything else, that he apparently had been cast for the job without his own consent. “So they need a head behind them, someone that will guarantee everything goes smoothly, that will manage and lead the production- that’s you.”

Hongbin sighed, thankfully that didn’t sound that bad. “What is the product?”

“Cocaine,” he said like it was nothing, Hongbin choked on his own saliva.

Hongbin managed to control his coughing enough so he could reply. “What?”

“Oh, pull yourself together, Hongbin,” he complained in a disapproving tone, Hongbin had to control the urge to throw the expensive Chinese vase that was behind him at his father’s head. “Yes, cocaine. You will oversee the production, keep track of the police, make sure no one catches on. Administrate, lead. That’s your job, you’re good at it,” he said casually, nodding at the end.

Hongbin’s mouth was hanging open, he watched his father for a sign of him being joking. “I won’t,” he replied simply and laughed. “I will not manage a ‘large scale like never seen before in the country’ production of _cocaine!_ You do it! I don’t want anything to do with this. This is illegal, this is- disgusting.” His voice was high pitched.

He couldn’t believe his father was supporting this in the first place, but to ask him to join too was way over the line. Joohyuk watched the despair on his son’s face, he could see Hongbin’s forehead starting to sweat.

“Jongup and Himchan are drug dealers?” he asked after a moment.

Joohyuk tilted his head. “Among other things. They are part of a street gang called Himeji-” Hongbin could feel his eyes widening again. "Who was created by them in Japan about 4 years ago, but they’ve been here for a while now. They were mainly meth producers, now they’ve gone into cocaine.”

Silence fell between the two, Hongbin was only aware of the sound of his rapid breathing and the pounding of his heart on his chest. He couldn’t tell if his hands shaking were out of anger or fear. How could his father be contributing to something that killed millions per year, that torn families apart into nothing?

“So, Himchan and Jongup are mafia members,” he said, wondering how his life got to the point where he was saying those words and they weren’t a joke. “This is so messed up. Think about how grandpa would feel about this, think about how hard this would have been for mom-” _for me._

Joohyuk sighed, annoyed. “God, you’re so full of morals.”

Hongbin realized he had let his guard down and brought it back up, his blood boiling again. “Yes, father, yes, I am. My moral principles tell me that being a part of- No, _being the head of_ a large scale manufacturing of a deadly drug for traffic is wrong, I’m sorry.” he used an ironic tone, bringing both hands together in front of his chest as if he was begging for forgiveness. “I won’t do it,” he said in long pauses, full of emphasis.

Joohyuk sighed, his expression changed as if he had given up. Hongbin’s father got up from his chair and walked to a nearby drawer, opening it up and grabbing a big white envelope.

“A few days ago it hit me I shouldn’t do this to you-” he said and Hongbin was surprised again, so he _could_ be empathetic. “I called Jongup and told him I would find a way to do it myself, even with all the work at the company. I said you had found out and didn’t want anything to do with it. I told him you said no,” he said and Hongbin felt like crying, thinking that meant he wouldn’t have to get into that mess. “He gave me this today.”

Joohyuk was now in front of his son, placing the envelope in his hands. Hongbin glanced down at it, then back at his father, then at the envelope again, grabbing it roughly. There was ‘ _To Hongbin_ ’ written outside, he didn’t make any ceremonies and opened.

Once he saw what was inside his hands started to shake even more, this time he was certain it was fear. There were three pictures inside, the first was Wonsik at a cafe table in the morning, a kind smile on his face as he thanked the waiter serving him. That sent all the blood from his face to his feet. The second picture was of his grandparents, at their own home having dinner together. The third made his head hurt. It was a picture of his grandparents hugging 5-year-old Wonsik and Hongbin, a picture that he had seen many times before because it was framed and on display at their house. The thought of Jongup inside his grandparents home made him feel faint. When he pulled the pictures, a handwritten note also had come from the envelope.

_ You have no idea what I’m capable of. _

“He wants you, son.”

Hongbin felt his eyes starting to water, he didn’t remember ever feeling that scared and he had been kidnapped twice before. The only three people he truly cared about, Jongup knew where they lived, their routine and he was making sure Hongbin was aware of it.

“Oh my god.” He raised his eyes to his father, furious and dizzy. He took a step forward, they stood only centimeters from each other. “I will have to- this- is your fault. If anything happens to any of them I swear to god I will go to the police and tell everything I know.” Joohyuk gritted his teeth, Hongbin wasn’t scared of him for a change. He didn’t care about anything anymore. “I will destroy the company, I will testify against you, you will rot in jail, you greedy asshole.” His father grabbed the collar of his shirt, he would not be talked down like that by his son under any circumstances.

“You-” he brought his face close to his son, normally enough to intimidate him. “Will not. You will take the deal and be a man about this.”

Hongbin knew what he had set himself up for the moment he walked into the room. His father grabbed him by his neck with one hand and slammed his face with the other. He didn’t seem fazed by it, looking straight back at him. The tears that had rimmed his eyes started to roll down his face.

To Joohyuk’s surprise, Hongbin grabbed his arm. “Or what? You will hire someone to kill me? Like you did to those feds?” he whispered.

His father’s eyes widened, caught by surprise.

He spat out his words. “You disgust me. They are all I have.” Hongbin brought his other hand up, almost clawing at his father’s grip on his neck, using all of his strength to push him off. Joohyuk lost his balance and fell to the floor.

Joohyuk had always taught his son to never question him, to never raise his voice, he knew the best way to be obeyed was to be feared. He didn’t take into account that Hongbin would have such a strong character, he was surprised every day by how defiant he was in his own way, how even despite his efforts Hongbin’s fighter nature would still show through. Ever since Hongbin was a child Joohyuk had built a barrier between them, he needed someone that he could shape into what he wanted, someone that would be even better than himself, someone who could keep the most important thing in his life going: his company. Even if Hongbin had grown up to be everything he dreamed his son would be, strong, competent, skilled, he had unintentionally created his weakness. Hongbin would push people away because of his fear of rejection, but in truthfulness, he got attached easily, wore his heart on his sleeve. Joohyuk could feel the breach in his plan as he stumbled down and fell to the floor, his perfect son on his feet staring at him crying, turning against him to protect the ones he truly loved.

“If they get hurt, I promise so will you,” Hongbin threatened, taking one last look at his father thrown at his feet, turning his back on him and leaving the office before he heard an answer.

He bolted out of the house feeling the tears streaming down his face, he didn’t bother to close any doors, to tell anyone where he was going. He ran down the familiar street, the cold hitting his face, only focused on where he wanted to get. Hongbin was overwhelmed with his emotions, he was feeling angry, betrayed, scared for his loved ones and for himself. He felt disgusted at his father for putting him, his own son, in that position. He also felt disgusted at himself, because the moment he’d heard the ones he loved were in danger, he realized he would be hurting a lot of other people to save them. He would go to hell for that.

He ran and ran for minutes, until the cold air going in and out of his lungs so quickly seemed to be freezing him from the inside out, until his shaky legs were asking him to stop, until the tears on his face were blurring his vision. When he saw the house he was going to, he ran faster.

When he went past the gates and reached the mansion door he knocked furiously, once one of the maids opened he ran inside with no further explanation, following the noises and laughter that were coming from the inside. The place was big, but it didn’t take long until he found its owners.

Hongbin’s crying seemed to only intensify when he saw his grandmother. “Oh my god, Binnie, are you crying? What happened to your face, honey?” she asked, seeing the red mark his father’s hand left on his cheek and neck.

“G-grandma.” Hongbin ran with arms open and embraced her tightly, feeling the comfort of her arms going strongly around him too. His body was trembling against hers, when he felt a hand on his back he knew his grandfather had found him too. He let himself be comforted, let himself crumble at their arms, sobbing loudly.

“Breathe, Bin,” his grandfather said whilst he stroked his back, exchanging worried looks with his wife. He’d raised Hongbin and he knew only something really bad could get him to that state.

Hongbin was crying so much he could barely stand, he felt so lost, so scared.

His grandmother ran a hand through his hair, speaking softly. “It’s okay, darling, it’s okay.”

And for a moment, it was. Hongbin was safe and protected there. Maybe for the last time before he threw it all up in the air to dive into a reality that would change the course of his life forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> now you know how everything is going to get mixed up... things are about to get (even more) angsty. thoughts?  
> if you feel confused you can leave a comment with your questions and i'll answer them


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heeello beautiful people! are yall alive after reincarnation? i died
> 
> i changed my username cause i just love this one, i use it for everything, so why not here haha i also changed the tags a bit and i think i will keep changing them as i see where the story goes, so keep an eye out for them, ok? i'll make sure to tag triggers in the notes too
> 
> anyway, enjoy the chapter!

Hongbin remembered having some really bad hangovers in the past, but the headache, muscle pain and fatigue that hit him as soon as he opened his eyes was especially strong that time. Except he had not put a drop of alcohol in his mouth.

“Oh my god,” Hongbin grunted into his pillow, the memories from the night before coming back to him.

As soon as he moved his whole body screamed at him, all of his muscles tense from the stress he’d been through. Hongbin reached his arm out and patted his hand on the bed to try and find a pillow to cuddle, when he hit a hard surface he thought he’d found it, pulling it next to him.

“Ow,” Wonsik complained, sitting on the bed next to Hongbin, his leg suffering from his friend’s rough touch. Hongbin lift his head to see Wonsik staring down at him, his arm laced around his thigh.

“What time is it?” Hongbin asked with a hoarse voice, taking his hand from Wonsik’s thigh to rub his eyes.

Wonsik glanced at his watch. “1 p.m.”

“What?” He sat up on the bed abruptly, thinking what excuse he would give for missing an entire shift. “I need to go to work.”

“Your dad gave a public notice you were sick, said the doctor gave you two days.” Wonsik calmed him down.

Hongbin took the information in, it hardly seemed like something his father would do. Joohyuk had told Hongbin countless times before the mind was stronger than the body, so even if Hongbin was sick he rarely missed work, his employees might think he was dying that time.

“Sik, I hit him,” he said with a regretful tone.

Wonsik’s eyes widened, his mouth open slightly. “Your dad?”

Hongbin nodded, his head throbbed just thinking about it. “I pushed him hard and he fell.”

There was a horrified look on Wonsik’s face, he glanced around at the parts of Hongbin’s body he could see looking for the signs of retaliation, but couldn't find any. Hongbin noticed.

“He didn’t hit me back.” He clarified. For him, a slap on the face and a hand on the throat didn’t exactly classify as a beating. He was used to getting much worse.

Wonsik’s face softened. “What happened, Bin? I called you like 20 times yesterday, Nana picked up and told me you came over bawling and wouldn’t talk to anyone about it. She was dead worried, said she hadn’t seen you cry like that since you were a teen, your stress fever went up to 39 degrees this time.” Guilt struck Hongbin way worse than his father’s slap had.

“I’ll apologize to them when I get down.” Hongbin sighed, pressing the inner corner of his eyes.

“No one is mad at you, we’re worried about you, Binnie. What happened?”

Hongbin sighed, thinking about where to begin. “Whatever we thought this would be, it’s so much worse, Sik.”

“Did your dad- admit to everything?” he asked, kind of expecting the answer to be yes, considering Hongbin had apparently cried his eyes out about it.

“Yes,” he said nodding and closing his eyes lightly, letting out a big sigh. “He made it seem it was because the company is on the verge of breaking.”

Wonsik’s eyes widened. “What?”

“He said if we don’t take this deal with TS we won’t be able to save Jellyfish,” he said, watching the expression is his friend go from surprise to sympathy.

“I’m so sorry, Bin,” Wonsik said, lifting his hand and stroking his friend’s back. He knew how important the company was for him, he’d spent most of his life working towards it. “So you’re tied to Himchan and Jongup? Have you found out what was weird about them?”

Hongbin didn’t know how to break the news that he was going to take part in a drug scheme to save the company and protect their family from a street gang. That he had set his mind on going against all his principles the moment he’d heard about Wonsik being in danger, that he was afraid to go to the police.

“I know you’ll support me through anything, but these next few months won’t be easy, I will- need you.” Hongbin struggled with the words, not used to saying them. Wonsik raised his brow confused. “I am- dad is- ah.” He put his hand on his messy bed hair, Wonsik’s hand on his back patted him lightly.

“What is it.” Wonsik found it odd seeing Hongbin so hesitant, he was normally very sure of himself.

Hongbin was looking down at the sheets, didn’t move his eyes from it as he spoke. “Himchan and Jongup are drug dealers and they need me to organize their next scheme so they can traffic it out of the country,” he spat it out in one breath, the hand on his back fell on the mattress.

Wonsik expected a lot of things, money laundry, TS being a fake company, but he had missed drug trafficking by a long shot.

Silence reigned for a long moment so Wonsik could understand what he’d just heard. “Hongbin- I know the company is important, but- it’s not worth it, you could go to jail.”

“Jongup sent me a message saying if I didn’t do it he would go after my grandparents- and after you.” Wonsik eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat, mouth drying immediately. “I have no choice, I’ve already said yes, I’m not letting anyone hurt you.”

Wonsik was scared for himself but he was even more scared for Hongbin. Who were those people? What were they capable of? Could they hurt him? Kill him? The thought sent a chill down his spine.

“W-we could go to the police together, Bin.” The idea of his best friend getting into that mess was too scary to him, he wouldn’t have it.

Hongbin smiled faintly and shook his head. “They’re part of a gang, Sik, dangerous people.” He saw Wonsik’s eyes watering, his kind-hearted nature already taking over. “I’ll be fine, I just need to do my job better than ever, make sure everything is organized and no one gets caught during the production and selling.”

“What kind of drug is it?” Wonsik’s voice was almost a whisper.

“Cocaine.” Wonsik’s eyes got even more sparkly.

Next thing Hongbin knew Wonsik’s arms were around his neck, hugging him tightly. Hongbin chuckled dryly, sliding his arms around his friend’s middle and patting his back, it was a bittersweet hug.

“Please don’t do this,” Wonsik murmured against his friend’s hair, his heart tightened. “We can figure something out, this will be too dangerous. Please,” he asked again, dangerously close to crying.

Hongbin gave him a hard squeeze before he pushed him away gently. “I can’t take any chances. I couldn’t live with myself if anything happens to either 3 of you, I don’t know how big is this- mafia group,” he choked up, still not used to it. “If I go to the cops they might not act fast enough, maybe they’re dirty like the ones my father bribed. Of all people, I need you to believe I can do this, ‘cause I don’t have any other options.”

Wonsik stared at him and sighed, he was right.

“I’ll-” the red-haired stopped for a moment, evaluating if he had the ability do what he was about to promise. He knew he did. The courage to do it, however, was questionable. “I’ll keep track of the police, I can hack their system, if anyone starts suspecting, I’ll tell you. I’ll erase all of your digital footprint too, no one will able to link you to this shit, your name won’t appear anywhere,” he said like it was simple.

Hongbin raised his brow, asking with a surprised tone. “You can do that?”

Wonsik nodded. “It’s not as safe as hacking into someone’s phone because the police expects to be hacked, but I know how to protect myself, I’ll be your inside man. As for your footprint we’ll get you a specific phone just for business.” He cleared his throat, _drug trafficking business_. “And I’ll get access to that and see what I can do. Oh- I can do background checks on all the gang members too and-” Hongbin’s laughter interrupted him.

“I’m not that worried now,” he joked. “This will be easy with a cleanup man behind me.”

Wonsik glared at him. “Don’t even say that, you’ll be the most careful you’ve ever been in your entire life, won’t tell anyone other than me and you’ll listen to everything I tell you _for once in your life._ ” He put his little finger right in front of Hongbin’s face. “Promise?”

Hongbin wrapped his little finger on Wonsik’s, thankful for the smart, loyal and amazing brother the universe had given him. “Promise.”

\--

Jongup pushed Himchan off him roughly, gasping for air. “What are you doing?” he asked looking at him with wide eyes before the other sealed their lips again, pressing his body so violently against the wall behind them Jongup thought his feet were going to lift off the ground.

“Celebrating,” Himchan whispered after he let the other breathe again, peppering kisses on his neck.

Jongup slid his arms across his soulmate’s back, tilting his head and letting him have more access. “Celebrating what?” he asked with a casual tone, enjoying having Himchan that close again, it had been a while.

“Everything is done,” Himchan said, kissing all the way up until their lips found each other. “All the deals, all the agreements, all the preparation, we closed our 10.” He pecked his lips, an act that would get a lot of people frowning if they knew what kind of soulmates Himchan and Jongup were.

“The outsiders are in?” Jongup lifted his brow, he hadn’t gotten any calls, but apparently, Himchan had.

The black-haired nodded, kissing him one last time before he pulled away. “I talked to Jisoo, his pilot is in too, so he and the golden duo makes three.” He ran his fingers through Jongup’s hair, putting the locks he’d messed up back in place.

“Nice, the only one left is Joohyuk then.”

Himchan shook his head no. “He called me, he said Hongbin was in.”

Jongup had to bite his lip to keep his smile from growing any further. “Hongbin?” he asked with a confused tone, pretending he didn’t know anything about it.

“Yes, when I answered he told me Hongbin was in and honestly I was too tired to ask why he’d backed down, just let the rich boy do it then.” His tone showed clear disapproval. “You’ve told me you think he can do well, I trust you.”

The blond’s heart was beating fast, he’d gotten what he wanted. Hongbin would be his.

“I do think Hongbin can do well, let’s not worry anymore,” he said, moving his arms from Himchan’s back to go around his neck, pulling him close again and getting no resistance from the other side, as usual.

Himchan’s eyes were locked on his soulmate’s and he agreed immediately, forgetting about what they were even talking about, just like he always did when Jongup would touch him like that. “Hm, okay,” he murmured, biting his lip.

Jongup had a stealthy predator trait to his personality, his moves were fluid, seductive. Made most people go crazy, Himchan was no exception.

Their relationship was strictly physical in the beginning, they found each other attractive and worked together every day, using sex to solve the endless fights they had. As time passed Jongup realized Himchan had developed a sense of ownership on him, so he made sure the other understood it was not in his place to feel jealous, toning down the non-friendship aspects of their relationship. Himchan still felt jealous anyway, he didn’t like to see Jongup showing interest in other people.

Jongup breathed against the other’s lips, not close enough that they were touching but close enough for Himchan to feel his sanity wasting away. “So, we can arrange the first meeting so everyone gets familiar with each other, then pass the lead to Hongbin so he assigns everyone jobs,” he whispered, sliding his thin fingers slowly into the other’s hair.

Himchan wasn’t sure he was listening properly, but he nodded. “I’ll tell Yongguk he’ll be working with Hongbin and tell Junhong he’ll be with Leo and Ken.”

“You forgot about Youngjae and Daehyun.” Jongup chuckled, enjoying how easily he was able to make Himchan melt on his arms.

“I don’t care about those rascals,” he murmured, pressing his body against Jongup’s and locking their lips again.

\--

_There is light, but- not natural light, feels artificial. I’m still not sure._

_This is definitely not an open space, it’s not a field, not a square, not a beach, I can tell there are walls around me. There is so much pressure on top of me, it’s like the moment from a roller-coaster drop, I can feel it on my entire body._

_Oh- there is definitely something weird about me. How can I be hot and cold at the same time? I’m exhausted too- but I shouldn’t sleep… he is telling me to not sleep. Well, if I need to stay awake it’s better I get up then-_

_Why can’t I get up? It’s like there is something on top of me- no, someone. Someone is pushing me down. Who are you? What are you doing?_

_At least that means I’m not alone, thank god, I’m not alone, because I’m scared- No, I’m terrified! Oh my god, I’m so scared. I know I’m not the only one, though, someone is crying. Someone I care about, but he is far from me. Are we in danger? Is this person threatening us?_

_You. You’re here too, that means I’m safe. I think. There are a lot of people here, aren’t there? It’s too much to focus on. You. I need to tell you something. It’s important, you’re important. I need you to know something, listen to me._

_Even though I’m looking at you and you’re looking at me too, I can’t get myself to say it, it’s too exhausting. Now I’m the one crying, you’re so worried about me. Why are you this worried? I’ve never seen you like this before. I’m sorry. I feel guilty. This sucks. I can feel my chest burning… not only my chest, my throat too. Is it because I’m crying? Oh no, it’s not. Definitely not, but crying is not helping, maybe I should stop._

_I don’t think I’m crying anymore, but I still can’t breathe… and it’s cold too, what is this?_

_No! I can’t sleep. Stay awake._

“Sanghyuk.” The touch on his shoulder was light, but he was still startled when he woke up. The boy looked around, he was sitting in the doctor’s lounge. He had fallen asleep waiting for his senior doctor to return from his round.

“I’m sorry, I fell asleep.”

The man smiled at him, understanding, power naps were an essential asset when you’re a doctor, Sanghyuk could sleep standing if he had to. “It’s fine, it’s 8 p.m., it’s close to the end of your shift. Can you do the last round with me? I need to show you a patient,” he asked, Sanghyuk was on his feet before he could even finish speaking.

“Are you okay?” his senior asked as they walked the post-op room. “It seemed like you were having a bad dream.”

“No, just one of those weird vivid dreams, I’m okay,” he lied. A very vivid dream, because he knew it could come true.

Sanghyuk hadn’t give it much thought to what he saw, it was just like the night before, the tiny difference was the roller-coaster pressure that appeared that time, he hadn’t felt that yet. He had promised himself he would focus on getting confirmation if it was really Taekwoon, but it was extremely tiring to remember to do so with so much happening during the vision. Trying to make sense of something when you’re perceiving the world through another person’s body is very difficult. His comfort was that the vision was still very confusing and broken apart in separate pieces, meaning it was not close to the time of it happening. He still had time to figure it out.

His shift ended, so he handed over his patients to the next shift’s doctor and was free from his responsibilities, walking out of the hospital into the night air with an accomplishment feeling.

Sanghyuk thought his heart would jump out of his chest when he saw a fire red-haired boy sitting in the benches outside of the hospital, nose matching his hair due to the harsh cold, he’d been there a while. Wonsik had not seen him yet, texting with his headphones on and glancing up occasionally, but in the wrong direction.

The younger had to force himself not to run in his direction, walking with a fast pace to his soulmate. Wonsik glanced up again.

The older also thought his heart would jump out of his chest when he saw the smile on Sanghyuk’s face, the biggest he’d seen yet. He took his earphones off and got up just in time as Sanghyuk reached him.

“What are you doing here?” the younger asked, physically holding himself back from hugging the other. The bond was happy, the floating feeling there without them even touching.

Wonsik chuckled. “I was waiting for you,” he said as expected, but Sanghyuk’s heart still did a flip when he heard it. “I was thinking we should have a proper first date, so if you wanted to, I would like to take you out for dinner,” he said the rehearsed words with a shy voice.

“I can’t believe you stood out in the cold like this for me,” he said and before Wonsik could reply, took the scarf from his own neck and laced around his soulmate’s.

“I could have stayed inside, but I don’t think it would have had the same impact,” he murmured, focused on Sanghyuk’s parted lips and calm breathing as he fixed the scarf on his neck.

The blue-haired bit his lips so he wouldn’t laugh, a smile still peeking through. “That’s true, monsieur.” Wonsik’s heart spiked again, ever since he’d said he liked the nickname, Sanghyuk had been using it more in audio messages. Wonsik wondered if that was his way of flirting.

“So- are you too tired or…” Wonsik said before he lost his courage, hoping the other would get the cue.

“Of course I’m going to dinner with you,” Sanghyuk said with a bubbly voice, Wonsik was surprised by how happy he seemed. “Do you have a place in mind already?”

Wonsik sighed in relief. “Well, I was thinking maybe we should decide it together, you’ve told me you like something greasy after a long shift.”

“You remembered that, huh?” Wonsik nodded, he smiled. “That was just a 12-hour shift, so I don’t need anything _that_ greasy, maybe something traditional, that can warm us up.”

“I know a place, we can just take a taxi there, it’s not far.”

When they settled inside the car Sanghyuk glanced over to Wonsik, both hands in between his legs to keep warm, nose still red and feet shaking.

The blue-haired chuckled. “Okay, Rudolph, let me help you,” he said, taking his hands from his pockets and reaching over to Wonsik’s, which slid out from between his thighs with no resistance.

Wonsik blushed furiously when Hyuk’s hands went around his, rubbing on his skin so the friction would make him warmer. Wonsik fingers were not reaching for the younger’s, but rather letting him turn his hand in whichever way he wanted until Sanghyuk ultimately pulled them to his own lap, not intertwining their fingers but lapping around them almost teasing. The older felt his lips dry, his heart racing. The smug smile Sanghyuk had on made him feel like an idiot.

“You’re shaking.”

“It’s because you’re touching me like this,” Wonsik spoke without thinking, biting his own lips as punishment after.

“You’re cute.” Sanghyuk smiled and gently placed Wonsik’s hands back on his lap, pulling away after. He saw the disapproving pout on the red-haired lips. “ _Very_ cute,” he repeated, Wonsik huffed out a laugh.

“How was your shift?” He changed the subject to distract the attention from himself.

“Oh, it was so fun! There is a specialist surgeon in town so there were a lot of students in the room to learn his technique, it was great.” Wonsik smiled seeing how excited he seemed.

“You really love what you do, don’t you.”

Sanghyuk nodded. “I do, I don’t think I could be doing anything else, I was born to be a doctor.”

“So you’ve known ever since you were little?” Wonsik asked with a curious tone. He was very used to numbers, so medicine seemed very distant from his reality.

Sanghyuk shook his head. “No, I wanted to be a firefighter.”

Wonsik laughed loudly, covering his mouth, the contagious laugh Sanghyuk remembered from the coffee place. “You absolutely have the build for it,” a hand hovered around his shoulders than on his head, pointing out the fact that he was tall. “But I don’t think your personality fits it.”

Sanghyuk raised his brow. “Oh, yeah? You can’t picture me running out of a burning building holding 5 cats?”

Wonsik laughed more. “No, I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay, surprisingly I’m not good with dangerous things.” He referenced his side job. Then he realized he shouldn’t have.

“What do you mean surprisingly?” Wonsik raised his brow, Sanghyuk froze, he was a terrible liar and he had no answer to that question.

Sanghyuk stared at Wonsik for a few seconds, speaking sounding anything but convincing.

“I-I mean, we get some gunshot wounds and stabbed people.” That wasn’t a lie, but that happened more at his side job than on his regular. “Criminals.”  _Like my platonic soulmate and our best friend_. Wonsik frowned, wondering why Sanghyuk suddenly looked so insecure.

“Really?” he asked, the other felt his stomach twisting.

“Yes,” he answered under his breath, looking out the window to see if he recognized where they were, since that for his relief, the driver said they had arrived.

Sanghyuk had never seen or heard of the place they were going to, but when they walked in and settled on their table everything on the menu looked delicious, which was enough to get half of his approval already.

“So-” Sanghyuk began speaking after they ordered, agreeing surprisingly fast on a dish. “How have you been? We haven’t talked much about things aside from our papers these days.”

Wonsik watched the younger trying to fix his dirty 12-hour-shift-hair as he thought about his possible answers. He could lie or he could be vague about everything and keep the conversation going, which seemed like the best option.

“To be completely honest, I’ve been better.” He gave the younger a faint smile.

Sanghyuk frowned. “What happened?”

“Well, remember my brother?” Sanghyuk nodded lightly so he continued. “His work requires a lot from him- mentally, sometimes I think he’s gonna go crazy. His dad is forcing him to do something that goes against his principles and I’m scared for him.” Sanghyuk noticed how Wonsik was strategically choosing his words so he wouldn’t expose his brother, which he was fine with, he wouldn’t pressure him into elaborating much.

“So he works with his dad,” he said with a questioning tone, when Wonsik nodded he continued. “And they’re going through some rough patches.”

“He has a huge problem on his hands and I know it’s taking a toll on him already. Bin is a very private guy, it takes a lot for him to verbalize what he’s feeling, so having him come to me and say he ‘needs me’ is very worrying. I can’t do much else other than support him, so I feel really bad,” he finished, trying to hide his frustration, focusing on pouring himself a drink so Sanghyuk wouldn’t notice.

Sanghyuk sympathized with him, speaking softly. “I’m sorry, Wonsik. Don’t underestimate yourself, though, sometimes feeling you’re alone is what keeps you from going forward. Stand by his side like he asked, just be as kind as you seem to be and he’ll gain strength from it.” he said from personal experience, having people by your side is very important.

Wonsik smiled, that was not bad advice considering how little he knew about the situation. “I know, I will- I’m just worried. I tend to carry other people’s problems like they’re my own.” Sanghyuk chuckled, they had that in common.

“Don’t feel guilty about not being able to do more,” Sanghyuk said as he could sense that on his soulmate, it was like Wonsik’s energy was screaming the feeling at him.

Wonsik raised his brow, wondering how had he picked up on that. “You sounded just like him, he always says that to me. You’re very wise, doctor Han.” He laughed, pouring the younger another drink.

Sanghyuk felt weird hearing Wonsik unintentionally using his side-job name, but distracted himself by drinking his shot, feeling it nicely warm as it went down.

“Oh, I’m graduated in reading signals,” he said with an ironic tone, it wasn’t a lie. He just didn’t mention the reason why was because he could feel and read people’s auras. “One of my best friends is also like that, private, doesn’t share much about himself, so I had to learn.”

“Your soulmate?” Wonsik asked, curious, pouring Sanghyuk another drink. Sanghyuk scoffed, taking a sip of it rather than drinking all at once.

“God, no, Jaehwan’s problem is not being able to shut his mouth.” Wonsik laughed at that, they seemed to have an interesting relationship. “It’s the friend who introduced us, they work together, the three of us are very close. We both thought Taek hated us at first, but as it turns out he cares a lot, he just doesn’t say it, so it’s a mind-reading game for Jae and I.” He chuckled.

Wonsik laughed loudly. “Mind reading? That’s intense, Bin is not that hardcore.”

“Taek is a pretty intense person in general, when you meet him you’ll see.” Wonsik smiled at the fact that Sanghyuk wanted him to meet his friends.

“So these are your closest friends?”

Sanghyuk nodded. “Yes, the ones I told you are like family to me, we see each other every week. I have another close friend, we met when I was still a student and she was a specialist doctor at the hospital I took some classes in. She was the one that made me want to become a surgeon, even though she is young she does wonders in the operating room, it really inspired me. She got offered a really good job in Busan and lives there now, so we can’t see each other that often, unfortunately.” He pouted.

“But do you talk to her often?” Wonsik leaned on his hand, paying attention.

“Yes, she pretty much adopted me so I need to call every week to give her updates, say I’m alive,” he said with a playful tone, but that was true. “Solji has always took really good care of me, when I told her I’d marked she wanted your number to ask questions and everything.” The younger laughed, remembering how she said if Wonsik ever hurt him she would take one of his kidneys out.

“What questions?” Sanghyuk laughed harder when he saw that the other seemed worried.

“A lot, she even asked your blood type,” he said and Wonsik bit his lip. “Don’t worry, I won’t leave you alone in a room with her, I promise.”

Wonsik shook his head. “Please, don’t.”

“You’re so cute,” Sanghyuk said, watching the other blush in front of him and further prove his point.

Wonsik didn’t know how to act when the younger would look at him like that, would talk to him like he was the most precious person to him, it made his stomach turn. He found it confusing how insecure Sanghyuk looked on the first time they met, because there it was like he was a different person.

Wonsik placed a hand on his cheek, feeling it warm. “Why do you keep saying that, it’s like you’re trying to turn me into a cooked shrimp.”

“First of all, I love shrimp.” Wonsik snorted. “Second of all, it’s not my fault you’re this sweet.”

Wonsik felt one of his big laughs coming, the loud and sudden ones that made people laugh with him. The ones Sanghyuk realized he already loved.

“See!” Sanghyuk pointed at him, face all red and neck starting to take the color too. “It’s like you want me to comment on it.”

“Stop!” People started glancing around to look at them. “You’re younger than me by two whole years, I should be the one saying that stuff to you.”

Sanghyuk snorted. “I’m not cute at all.”

“What?” Wonsik said a little more loudly than what he’d hoped for. “You’re the cutest! The prettiest and I bet the hottest too,” he said bluntly.

“Whoa, you’re drunk.” Sanghyuk laughed.

Wonsik looked offended, his mouth slightly open. “I am not!” His tone kind of proved the younger’s point, who had drunk way more than him and yet seemed absolutely fine. “Okay, I’m tipsy and I’m happy, it’s just because I haven’t eaten in a while.”

“That’s no excuse, I haven’t eaten anything since lunch.” Sanghyuk raised his brow with an amused tone.

“But- you’re huge.” Wonsik once again said bluntly, Sanghyuk snorted. “The alcohol distributes, gets lost inside your wide shoulders and can’t find its way to the brain.”

“Nice explanation, professor, I’m sure this is in a book somewhere.” Sanghyuk bit his lip so he wouldn't laugh.

“That’s it, I’m not drinking anymore.” Wonsik narrowed his eyes.

The younger reached for the bottle, pouring the older another drink. “I’m joking, you’re funny when you’re tipsy.” Wonsik raised his brow.

“Now I’m thinking you’ve planned this all along, are you trying to get something out of me?” he said joking, leaning over the table in a fake intimidation technique. He’d forgotten Sanghyuk was way more confident than him.

Sanghyuk also leaned, their faces getting closer across the narrow table. “Like what?” he said in a whisper tone, Wonsik’s heart raced.

Wonsik didn’t know what to respond, his smile disappearing slowly as he watched the younger’s smug expression from up close. At the moment the waitress brought their food, so they had to separate so she could serve them. Wonsik backed down first, staring as Sanghyuk leaned away still with a teasing smirk on his lips. Wonsik wanted to kiss it away, but the sudden thought of his lips against Sanghyuk’s made his stomach twist.

Sanghyuk’s smirk turned into a kind smile as he thanked the waitress for the service. They were hungry so it became silent for a while, both focused on eating.

“This is exactly what I wanted, it’s really yummy. Thank you for bringing me here, Wonsik.” He smiled.

“You like it? I’m glad, I think the place is nice too. It’s not that far from home I come a lot too.”

“No, monsieur, thanks for this- for going through this trouble, staying out in the cold for me- for even wanting to go out with me after I’m gross from a 12-hour shift.” He pointed at his greasy hair.

Wonsik chuckled. “It was no trouble at all, I swear- and you smell nice and lavendery, don’t worry,” he said with his shy tone back, the effects of the alcohol dulled down after he started to eat.

Sanghyuk thought he was just being kind, but when he got the scent he was using spot-on he knew the older had actually noticed. A smile crawled up the corner of his lips, he ate a spoon of rice to hide it.

“I’m still thankful, you’re very nice to me.”

Wonsik squinted his eyes at him. “Even though you tease me all the time because I’m a shy mess, I’m still nice to you, see.” Sanghyuk squinted back at him.

“I don’t do that,” Sanghyuk said but he knew he did, like in the car on the way over, playing with Wonsik’s fingers just to see his face get red.

The red-haired snorted, almost spilling his drink from his cup. “You’re a terrible liar. Yes, you did, you’re mean, this is proof why I should have gotten the bigger tree.”

“Oh, so this is what it’s all about. You’re jealous of me.” The younger chuckled, then continued with a teasing tone. “Will you show me your _teeny tiny_ tree today or you’ll just keep it hush-hush like the rest? I’m thinking you have really bad taste, that’s why you don’t want me to see your ink.”

Wonsik raised his brow. “I can show the mark ‘cause it’s in my ankle, but how do you suggest I show you the rest? I can’t exactly strip here.” He offered irony in return.

“That’s exactly what someone with some really tacky ink would say,” Sanghyuk said jokingly and slurped on his noodles.

Sanghyuk watched him with a confused face when Wonsik stood up suddenly, going around the table with a frown on his face and sat beside him on the bench.

“Now, if we get kicked out, that’s on you,” Wonsik said with a low tone, glancing around before he removed the flannel he had over his shirt in a swift move.

When Sanghyuk caught on, he dropped his chopsticks roughly on the table, turning to the side so he could face the older, shaking his hands in front of him.

“Oh my god, you’re insane. I was joking, don’t take your shirt off here.” He laughed, grabbing the hem of his shirt and keeping it in place before Wonsik had the chance to reach for it.

“I’m not crazy,” he said laughing too, he would never do that. Sanghyuk loosened his grip.

Wonsik raised the sleeve of the shirt so the younger could see the last tattoo on the high part his right arm, which the long sleeve he had on last time made it difficult for him to show.

Sanghyuk held the sleeve up for him. “Young Forever,” he read the writing. “Probably one of your firsts and you just wanted to get something rebellious, right?” He looked up at Wonsik’s face.

He huffed out a laugh. “Correct. I had a birthmark here and I wanted to cover it, I think I was 18, my father almost had a heart attack,” he murmured the last part, they laughed together. “That makes four, right? You’ve seen all the ones from the arms, so-”

Wonsik suddenly turned his back to Sanghyuk, the younger understood why when he saw the end of a tattoo peeking from his collar. He couldn’t help himself from scooching closer, making Wonsik’s throat dry and heart skip a beat when he felt the younger’s body so close to his own.

“Can I pull the shirt down a bit?” Sanghyuk’s hand was hovering over his shoulders, waiting for permission to touch him. Wonsik was too nervous to reply, but he nodded, the rest of his body trembling when Sanghyuk sat even closer to him, their thighs rubbing against each other.

The blue-haired pulled the seamless collar down, stopping when he felt it hitting Wonsik’s throat. Once again, he had no idea what the tattoo was, it was unlike any other he’d ever seen, but he loved it.

“This is so pretty, Sik,” Sanghyuk whispered, so concentrated on the interesting lines the nickname just slipped from his tongue.

Sanghyuk was very focused, but he didn’t miss the way the hairs on Wonsik’s neck stood up as his breath hit him. He smirked, saying the first thing it came to mind just so he could see it happening again. Maybe he was mean.

“I’m sorry I said you have bad taste,” Sanghyuk said in another whisper, lips centimeters apart from the other’s neck, making as breathier as he could. He chuckled, satisfied when he got the reaction he wanted. The older realized what he was doing.

Wonsik licked his dry bottom lip. “You’re pure evil.” Sanghyuk was so unpredictable, at one second he was smiling sweetly and at the next, he was trying to give him a heart attack in a public place, Wonsik couldn’t keep up with him.

Sanghyuk always thought of himself as confident, but he wouldn’t tease anyone like he felt the urge to tease Wonsik. He liked to see him blush, he liked the way he stumbled on his words when he would smile at him, he liked how his body reacted to him.

The blue-haired leaned into his soulmate’s ear, holding back from touching him like he wanted to, scared to cross a line. Little did he knew Wonsik was a second away from leaning in himself. “I was never like this before you.”

Wonsik tried to deal with having him that close, the words making him swallow dry. “You learn fast, satan,” he said and the other laughed.

Sanghyuk calmly leaned away and reached over the table, grabbing Wonsik’s bowl and chopsticks and placing it in front of him, implying that he should stay beside him as they ate.

Wonsik smiled, taking the chopsticks and starting to eat again. “So- do I have bad taste?”

“Yes,” he said with a smirk on his lips, looking into the other’s eyes.

Wonsik could tell he was joking, taking the glass delicately from his hands. “That’s why you were looking that close, huh?” He sipped on the alcohol.

Sanghyuk laughed, placing his hand in front of his full mouth before he spoke. “I needed to see the details from close, get confirmation,” he said with a mocking tone, but then continued with a neutral one. “I’m joking, it’s actually really pretty, did it hurt?”

Wonsik shook his head. “No.”

“You always say it didn’t hurt when I ask you, are you trying to make yourself look tough? Because you really don’t fit the part,” Sanghyuk asked raising a brow.

Wonsik chuckled, not really offended by the statement. “No, the ones you didn’t see yet were the ones that hurt,” he said, placing his hand over his shirt at the side of his torso. “This one almost killed me, it goes over my ribs, I thought I was going to die.” Sanghyuk laughed, that sounded more like him. Wonsik’s hand then motioned around his collarbone. “The other one here hurt a lot too, I guess I’m sensitive in the middle,” he said casually, taking another bite of his food.

 _Good to know_ , Sanghyuk thought and bit his lip so he wouldn’t smile. “Will you let me see them?”

Wonsik shook his head no vigorously. “You’ve lost your right.” He joked. When Sanghyuk pouted Wonsik thought his body would physically react and call him cute. “Are you really trying to turn me around by acting cute?”

“I’m sorry. Please?” he asked sweetly, trying hard to put on a regret face on, but it came off more like a kicked puppy. Wonsik was intrigued.

“Whoa, you’re really something,” he said and Sanghyuk’s expression softened, he laughed. His face looked so beautiful, Wonsik found himself already loving the way Sanghyuk laughed, talked, smiled. The younger had such an innocent look to him, even if he was finding out he was far from it. He looked warm, made him feel comfortable. “I’ll show them to you later, I can see you’re not letting this go.”

“You’re right, I’m not. What’s your favorite?” Sanghyuk asked curiously, so far he liked the Apollo tattoo the best.

“Our mark,” Wonsik answered in a reflex right after the other asked, biting his lip out of embarrassment.

Sanghyuk felt his heart skip a beat, that was such a sweet and intimate way to put it, he was smiling shyly before he could stop himself. “Really?”

Wonsik felt himself getting flushed. “Of course, Sanghyuk. I’m very picky and I always think there are things that could be better about all my tattoos… but I thought our tree was perfect from the moment I first saw it.” he replied without looking at the other’s eyes, but could feel them on him.

“I think it’s perfect too. I love the meaning behind it, it fits us.”

Wonsik chuckled, just like he thought, Sanghyuk knew what the mark meant already. “Do you think you know what it means?”

“I’ve done some research, I don’t think it can be anything else.” He chuckled. “I’ve been through this before, when you find the real explanation you just know it’s the right one.”

Wonsik was confused at first but then he understood. “You mean with your mark with- Jaehwan?” He hoped to have remembered his name correctly.

Sanghyuk nodded, placing his arm on the table and turning the inner part up so his blue triangle could be seen. “See this- I didn’t really pay attention to why Jae’s triangle is facing down and mine is facing up, but I had to look at the entire mark and compare the two so I could find the meaning.”

“What do you mean?”

“I found some books that analyzed alchemy from the 1600s and 1700s… it was a sort of philosophy that tried to unite substances, mind, religion, magic, astrology and things like that to understand the world.” The younger began to explain, Wonsik leaned back and listened, feeling like he was in a class. “They used some symbols for certain elements like iron and gold, earth and air…” he motioned around with his hands, Wonsik thought about how nice he would be as a teacher. “According to their texts, a triangle facing up means fire whilst a triangle facing down means water.”

Wonsik looked at Sanghyuk’s mark again, a triangle facing up with blue lines that were clearly waves and water all over it, he was confused. “But if water is the triangle facing down, why is yours facing up? The triangle is wrong.”

Sanghyuk smiled. “That’s the point, when I looked at them together I understood. Water means calm, purification, healing- that’s me, represents my essence inside the fire triangle.” Wonsik couldn’t agree more, the description definitely fit the younger. “Jae’s essence is fire, that means passion, creativity, and determination, but inside the water triangle. What this means is my essence, soul, personality- whatever you’d like to call it is involved by Jae’s, just like his is involved by mine.” He looked at the older’s face to see if he was following.

“So you think the mark represents the relationship you share?” he asked, thinking he’d understood where the younger was getting at.

Sanghyuk smiled, he did understand. “Exactly, our relationship is all about union, balance and harmony, we are family, makes sense that our mark reflects that as well. I knew alchemy was the right way to look at it as soon as I read about it, it clicked.”

Wonsik nodded. “That’s amazing, you seem to know a lot about this.”

Sanghyuk chuckled. “I’m very spiritually connected, you could say. I find things like occultism interesting, I like looking at the world through things that go beyond human understanding.”

The red-haired frowned. “That’s curious coming from a doctor, your class is usually so skeptical.”

Sanghyuk laughed, Wonsik truly still had a lot to learn about him. “I think it’s unrealistic trying to stick to worldly things when literal marks appear on your skin when you touch someone that has an energy that matches yours.”

Wonsik thought about it for a second. “That’s actually very true,” he said and looked at Sanghyuk, who shrugged his shoulders. “You’ve convinced me.”

“Welcome to the witch club,” the younger joked, raising his glass like he was making a toast. Wonsik would like to see Sanghyuk giving Hongbin, the most skeptic person he’d ever met, that talk.

“Thanks, Sabrina.” Sanghyuk snorted at the nickname. “So, what do you think our tree means then?”

“I didn’t think I would find the meaning this fast, but just a google search was enough for me. Even back in the middle ages, orange trees were known for being symbols of generosity and- wisdom.” Sanghyuk had one brow raised, amused by what he’d just said.

“Oh- the tree of intelligence? Seriously?” Wonsik laughed loudly, making his soulmate feel bubbly from hearing it. “How modest of us.”

Sanghyuk laughed too. “Right? So pretentious, but we can take it more to the generosity than to the wisdom side, let’s say we have good judgment,” he said ironically, but sounded shy as he continued. “Oh- another thing, the blossoms.”

“What about them?”

“I looked that up too.” he looked almost embarrassed, Wonsik was confused. “Okay, don’t think I’m asking you anything, but orange blossoms have a very strong symbology by themselves.”

Wonsik frowned. “What?”

“They’ve been used since the middle ages by brides because they symbolize purity, innocence- and chastity,” he said and Wonsik choked on his drink, standing somewhere between a coughing and a laughing fit. “I’m not asking you anything!” Sanghyuk repeated, watching the other turning red.

Wonsik covered his face with his hands, leaning his head on Sanghyuk’s shoulder whilst still laughing loudly. Sanghyuk was not really surprised by his reaction, he knew how shy the older was, but he was truly not implying anything.

Sanghyuk laughed too, sliding his arm around Wonsik and rubbing his arm, he leaned into the touch. “You’re sweet,” the younger said and Wonsik felt himself melting into his arms.

“Do the blossoms really mean that or did you just say it to do this to me?” Wonsik asked from behind his hands, head still resting on Sanghyuk’s shoulder.

Sanghyuk caressed his arm fondly, taken by the nice airy feeling Wonsik gave him whenever they touched. “They really mean that,” he said and felt his soulmate’s body trembling against his again, giggling. “But I was joking, for us I think is a deeper meaning.”

“Like what?” Wonsik raised his head but kept his body where it was, feeling Sanghyuk making little shapes with the tip of his fingers on the skin of his arm.

Sanghyuk smiled. “The witch in me says purity and innocence of the spirit, could mean that we have good intentions, that we’ll respect and honor each other, something like that.” Sanghyuk interested one of his many theories.

“That sounds about right,” Wonsik said shyly, he could see himself honoring that beautiful boy until they died.

“Are you done?” Sanghyuk asked after a while, referring to the food. He then lowered his hand from Wonsik’s shoulder to the curve of his waist.

Wonsik nodded, thinking if Sanghyuk accidentally pulled up his shirt from how he was playing with his fingers he would lose his mind. “Yep, I’m full.” In fact, the butterflies in his stomach were taking his hunger away, he resorted to drinking instead.

“You must think I eat too much.”

“I think you need a lot to sustain all of you,” he said casually and Sanghyuk snorted.

“Said the one that is almost the same height as me.” The younger pointed out.

“You’ve worked really hard today, this is your reward.” He changed his argument. “By the way, aren’t you dead tired? I should get your home sometime soon.”

Sanghyuk laughed, glancing at his soulmate. “It’s Saturday, how old are you, grandpa?” he joked, Wonsik gave him a look.

“I just want you to rest, Hyuk, your eyes are puffy,” he said with a soft tone. The other seemed to like him using the nickname. “You don’t have anything to do tomorrow, do you?”

Sanghyuk smiled, happy by the fact that Wonsik was worried about him. “No work, just studying a bit and in the afternoon I’m gonna take out some stitches from a friend’s hand,” he said taking his final bite and leaning back on the wall.

“Is your friend okay?”

Sanghyuk nodded, his hand squeezing Wonsik’s side, the older melted into him again. “Yes, it was an accident he had in the kitchen, cut himself pretty bad so I stitched him up,” he said the first thing that came to his mind.

Wonsik felt a chill go down his spine. “God, that’s horrible, the blood-” he said then regret it instantly, trying to avoid thinking about anything related to the subject.

Sanghyuk laughed. “Are you one of those people who became faint when they see blood?”

Wonsik shook his head vigorously. “I can’t even handle the thought of blood.”

“Really? I’ll bring you to work with me one of these days then.” the younger joked, Wonsik turned to glare at him.

When Wonsik turned his head he saw himself a few centimeters away from the other’s face, Sanghyuk’s hand stopped playing with his shirt. Wonsik’s heart had raced many times that night, but none of it compared to the way the rhythm picked up once he saw Sanghyuk flustered from having him close. The younger glanced at his lips, wanting more than anything to place his own there, but he knew it was way too soon for that, he didn’t want to rush anything with Wonsik, that was only their first date. Wonsik felt himself freeze when he saw his soulmate biting his lip, looking the prettiest he’d ever seen, face with no hint of smugness but filled with desire.

Sanghyuk forced himself to loosen his grip on Wonsik waist so they could stand further apart, breaking the moment that had almost turned into a rushed kiss. Wonsik wanted to grab his arm so he wouldn’t move away.

The blue-haired cleaned his throat, reaching for his glass on the table with his now free hand and finishing his drink, _don’t rush this, control yourself._ Wonsik felt like he could breathe again, but he was not exactly happy about it. “I would faint, it would not be pretty.”

They talked about common interests for some time, but when Sanghyuk yawned Wonsik insisted he wanted to take the younger home. They decided to walk once again, but that time Sanghyuk insisted to drop Wonsik off instead of the other way around.

When they reached the entrance to Wonsik’s building he stopped, looking at the younger. “See, I’m not hiding my place from you, here it is.”

Sanghyuk shoved his hands in his coat pockets. “You’re really not letting me go up?”

“It’s chaos,” Wonsik said and laughed, remembering all the clothes he’s left on the bed when he rushed out. “When I invite you over I need you to have the right impression of me.”

Sanghyuk took a step further, making the space between them smaller. “I already have a great impression of you.”

“Nice try.” Wonsik raised his brow, thinking the younger was trying to intimidate him into cave into his request. “Maybe next time, doctor Han.”

Sanghyuk pouted slightly, Wonsik smiled in a reflex. “Please?”

“No, Hyuk, seriously, it’s so bad. I promise I’ll clean everything up for you next time,” he said shaking his head and the younger smiled kindly.

“Okay, but only because you’re pretty.”

“Don’t say things like that.” Wonsik giggled, pushing Sanghyuk’s chest slightly in protest.

Sanghyuk smiled, stepping closer to Wonsik, dangerously close. _Don’t rush this_ , the thought came back to his mind. “Why?”

“I should be the one saying that to you.” Wonsik swallowed dry. “I’m older.”

Sanghyuk lifted his hand to put the strand of hair that was out of place back behind Wonsik’s ear, looking into his eyes after. “But you’re also cuter.”

Wonsik snorted, his face heating up. “One of these days I might drop dead from embarrassment.”

Sanghyuk chuckled. “You’re in luck, I’m a very skilled doctor, I’ll save you.”

Wonsik snorted. “Ha ha, very funny,” he said tilting his head and squinting his eyes.

A silence followed, the smile still on both of their lips. After a while they were just looking at each other, thinking about something to say. Wonsik remembered he was still wearing Sanghyuk scarf, bringing his hands to untangle the fabric and give it back to him.

The younger stopped him. “Keep it.”

“Why? You’re still walking home, it’s cold.” Wonsik pointed out, watching a smile grow bigger on the other’s lips.

“So I have a reason to ask to see you again.”

Wonsik chuckled, his heart fluttering. “Okay, when you miss your scarf you talk to me.”

“Wonsik,” he said with a gentle tone. “Thank you so much for surprising me today,” when the older started to shake his head no like he was saying it was no big deal, the younger reached for his hand, caressing it with his thumb. Wonsik looked at him. “Really, thank you. I had a great time.”

The red-haired shook his head again, smiling. “It was a thank you for keeping up with my stupid questions this week, you were way too patient.”

“we’ll talk, okay?”

“Okay,” he replied and they stared at each other, not sure on what to do next. Sanghyuk didn’t want to pressure him into doing anything, so he gave Wonsik’s hand a light squeeze before he gently let it go. “Bye.”

“Bye, Hyuk.” Wonsik waved him goodbye.

Wonsik leaned on the wall for a second watching him go, snapping out of it when Sanghyuk reached the end of the street and glanced back to see him standing still in the middle of the sidewalk. He walked inside embarrassed and giggled by himself, starting to go up the stairs to his place. When he reached the door his phone buzzed in his pocket, smiling widely as he read it.

From: Han Sanghyuk  
i miss my scarf  
when can i see you again so i can get it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how cute right? i live for them, they are precious, OUR FIRST TAGGED COUPLE... next chapter is the meeting FINALLY, the main plot will begin, can't wait... 
> 
> i was wondering if you guys have any ideas who the other couples were... im curious. leave comments if u want cause i like them very much byeee


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello lovies, sorry it took a while, it's elections here and brazil is trying to DESTROY ITSELF AND ITS DEMOCRACY, so i've been freaking out...
> 
> anyway, enjoy #elenão

“He’s freaking out, can’t you tell?” Hakyeon snuggled himself in the couch, comfortable even in the unfamiliar house.

“I’ve never seen him like this before- well, Hyuk said he was really upset when I got hurt a few weeks back, but I wasn’t around to see that, so technically it’s the first time I’m seeing him like this,” Jaehwan rambled.

“It was hard for him, I remember the call I got.” Hakyeon’s last trip seemed like years away, but it wasn’t even a full month since then.

“Oh, right, you mentioned he called. What did he say?” Jaehwan asked curious, grabbing his glass of water and staring at Hakyeon intently.

“He was just- weirdly caring to me.”

Jaehwan raised a brow, Taekwoon seemed weirdly caring to Hakyeon all the time.

“Now that I’ve seen how much he likes you, I understand that seeing you hurt scared him. I thought you were colleagues, but that’s not true, Taek sees you as his friend,” Hakyeon explained, reaching for the cup in the other’s hand and grabbing it for a sip, Jaehwan was surprised by how casual he was when doing so. “By the way, what happened to you?”

He laughed, Hakyeon was just as curious as Taekwoon had made him seem. “Someone spiked my drink with some strong meds, made my heart dangerously slow.”

Hakyeon’s eyes widened. “They do that these days? I thought criminals spent all day shooting at each other and all.”

Jaehwan held in his laughter. “Yes, they do. It’s not about shooting guns, Hakyeon, it’s about power, reputation.” He took his glass back from Hakyeon’s hand, the older pouted.

“Are people scared of you?” Hakyeon tipped his head, curious.

Jaehwan found the question odd, speaking with a hesitant tone. “Yes, why?”

“I dunno,” Hakyeon murmured, lost in thought.

“Because you don’t think they should.”

Hakyeon smiled at him, shaking his head. “On the first day we met, I was a little scared because you literally appeared out of thin air in my living room with a knife under your hoodie.” He chuckled, Jaehwan was surprised to know he’d noticed that. “But then you were so nice to me… and Taek seems to genuinely trust you too, made it hard for me to be scared of you.”

Jaehwan remembered when he saw Hakyeon for the first time, covered in blood on the floor, crying. It seemed far from the bright man Hakyeon was showing himself to be. “I have my knife on me right now, knowing that are you scared again?”

“No, I don’t think you would hurt me. To be honest, you’re so nice, I can’t picture you hurting anyone.”

Jaehwan liked hearing that, even if it was definitely not true, made him distance himself from the image of Ken. “I can kick ass, though.”

“I don’t doubt it, Taek has told me a thing or two about you.”

“He knows I can kick his ass if I want to,” Jaehwan murmured.

Hakyeon seemed to think he was lying. “Really? Like- don’t be offended, but he looks a lot stronger than you.”

Jaehwan chuckled. “If you have muscle and you don’t have the skill you don’t really have anything. I was about 16 when I started to learn to fight in the streets, everyone was bigger than I was back then, I couldn’t let that stop me.”

Hakyeon didn’t miss when his expression darken for a second when he mentioned his past. “16? That’s so young, Jaehwan.”

Jaehwan gave him a faint smile. “Yes, I suppose it is.”

Silence followed his answer, Hakyeon didn’t know if he could or should ask anything else about it, but he was a curious man. “Why did you have to learn to fight?”

“I didn’t have a home anymore, I was scared someone would try to hurt me again.” When he looked back at Hakyeon their eyes met, the older’s expression was almost worried. _Again_ was the word that stood out to him. “So I learned to take care of myself.”

“You didn’t have anyone else to do that for you? Family?”

Jaehwan didn’t look at him when he answered. “No.”

Hakyeon saw how uncomfortable he got, regretting having said anything. “I’m sorry for asking, I didn’t mean to pressure you into saying anything to me.”

“It’s okay, it’s just we-” He tried to find the right words so he wouldn’t offend Hakyeon.

“We don’t know each other that well.” Hakyeon completed with a gentle tone, not seeming the least offended, but understanding.

Jaehwan nodded. “Yes, I don’t feel comfortable with talking about that just yet, I’m sorry.”

Hakyeon shook his head no. “Don’t be… It’s on me.” He smiled, then tried to remember what they had been talking about before that. “You were talking about how you can kick Taekwoonie’s ass.”

“I can absolutely can. You are also a lot smaller than me, but if you had the skill you could kick my ass too, size doesn’t count that much.” He finished making his previous point.

“Not a lot smaller. I may not look it, but I’m strong.” Hakyeon sulked.

“That’s my point, you’re tiny, but if you had the skill you could take me.” He joked, Hakyeon’s mouth dropped open, clearly offended.

“Tiny?” Hakyeon got up from the couch. “Come on, get up, let me show you,” he said, serious. Jaehwan started to laugh.

“Show me what?” he looked up at Hakyeon, both hands on his small hips with a frown on his face.

Hakyeon sighed, tone dripping with sarcasm. “How I, a tiny 1,80-meter man, am much stronger than I look and I can definitely bring you down to your knees. I’ve taken self-defense classes, you know.” Jaehwan looked at him in awe. He couldn’t be serious. “Come on!” he repeated, reaching for the other’s arms.

Jaehwan was surprised when he was actually pulled on his feet by the older, tripping on his way, he was, in fact, a lot stronger than he looked. Jaehwan was not sure what the other wanted to prove there, but maybe he shouldn’t have joked about Hakyeon’s height, apparently, he was self-conscious about it.

“So this is how this is going to work,” Hakyeon began, talking in a very serious tone. “I’ll try to knock you down, you’ll try to stop me. This nice puffy rug under us won’t let anyone get hurt, so it’s fair.”

Jaehwan chuckled. “Believe me, Hakyeon, me going against you it’s not fair under any circumstances, even on top of my fluffy rug.”

Hakyeon placed his finger on Jaehwan’s lips, silencing him, shaking his head from side to side. “Stop being a chicken, I won’t hold this against you, no hard feelings.”

Jaehwan raised an arm to Hakyeon’s shoulder, smiling as he spoke. “Look, you’re not tiny I was just-” he was interrupted before he could finish.

It’s one thing to be attacked when you’re somewhat vigilant and aware of the possibility of someone creeping up on you, it’s another entirely when your partner’s small framed soulmate is freakishly strong for his size and attacks you out of nowhere in your own living room. Jaehwan’s butt was on the floor when he made that realization, after Hakyeon had lifted one of his legs and struck a foot behind his knee, pushing him on the floor after he lost his balance.

Hakyeon had an accomplished face as he watched Jaehwan from above, beginning to brag. “Oh, I thought this was supposed to be hard, I mean you’re the one that-”

Jaehwan was the one to interrupt him that time. After 10 years of practice, it really didn’t matter if his opponent was standing or lying down, he would figure out a way to get himself on top. And that was what he did. Literally.

As Hakyeon bragged he curved himself to bring his smug face next to Jaehwan’s, shifting his normal balance and making it easier for him to grab his arm and give it a strong pull, making the older fall on his knees beside him. After that, all he had to do was push Hakyeon sideways, so he could climb on top of him and make sure he couldn’t get away by holding both his arms on top of his head. Jaehwan let most of his weight on top of the other, legs on either side of his hips reassuring he wouldn’t go anywhere.

“You should have made sure I was trapped before you started to brag,” Jaehwan said close to Hakyeon’s face, warm breath tickling his skin. “Like you are now.”

Hakyeon tried to move his arms, but he quickly realized in that position he wasn’t going anywhere. Jaehwan didn’t have to make much of an effort because firstly, he had gravity on his side. Secondly, because Hakyeon gave up escaping so fast it was he wanted to be there.

“I wasn’t bragging,” Hakyeon said defensively, watching Jaehwan’s hair falling strand by strand out of place.

“You weren’t?” Jaehwan lifted one brow, looking down at Hakyeon’s relaxed expression. He surely had never seen someone he’d knocked down look that calm before. “Seemed like it, _I thought this was supposed to be hard_ -” he mimicked the other’s voice.

Hakyeon laughed, a wide, beautiful and genuine smile on his lips. “Fine, I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted.” Jaehwan watched as Hakyeon remained compliantly unmoving under him. “What’s your plan to get out of here?” he asked casually, dropping himself lower so he could lean on his elbows without letting go of the other’s wrists, making their bodies even closer than before. As Jaehwan’s face got nearer to his, Hakyeon’s heart began to react for the first time, aware of how intimate they were acting.

“I’ll ask nicely.” Hakyeon watched Jaehwan’s round eyes intently. “Please?”

Jaehwan was suddenly aware of the proximity they were at too, sharing warmth. Hakyeon fluttering lashes and sweet scent were so pleasing he realized he didn’t want to go anywhere. Which meant he needed to get out of there before his body tried something funny on him. Hakyeon felt the grip on his wrists loosening up.

Jaehwan nodded. “Sure, button,” he said ironically and climbed off Hakyeon, sitting on the floor. Hakyeon lowered his arms, resting them on his stomach as he looked at the other’s face.

“That’s all it took? A please?”

Jaehwan leaned towards him again, in a sort of threat. “You want me to go back there?”

Hakyeon sat up straight immediately, shaking his head no and laughing.

“No, sir, I’m good,” he said and Jaehwan laughed too. “Now that you’ve proved I’m cocky, you can go on and give me the talk.”

Jaehwan remembered why they were there for. “Oh- yeah. You know what kind of people are we dealing with?” Jaehwan asked, slightly more serious tone.

“Drug dealers,” Hakyeon said like it was obvious.

Jaehwan shook his head no, they were so much more than that. “Japanese mafia. They call themselves Himeji-”

“Like the castle?”

Jaehwan nodded. “The gang started with three people back in Japan maybe 5 years ago. Two of them are soulmates and their mark is a castle, so when they started to make impact the nickname stuck. They used to go by Tsuki and Taiyou back in Japan, but we know them as Jongup and Himchan here.”

Hakyeon nodded again. “Okay, but you said they were three.”

Jaehwan then continued. “Yes, they were. The third one is called Aka, or Daehyun.”

“They are simple people, huh? Moon, sun, red, very direct nicknames.” He chuckled, sounded funny in Jaehwan’s broken Japanese pronunciation, but he was pretty sure that’s what he’d said.

Jaehwan looked confused. “What do you mean?”

Hakyeon’s job as a pilot required him to be good in languages, so he’d studied English and Japanese ever since he was young and could speak both fluently, managing some broken Chinese too if he tried hard.

Hakyeon laughed. “Tsuki is Japanese for moon, taiyou is Japanese for sun and aka is Japanese for red,” he said in the correct pronunciation, something seemed to click in Jaehwan mind.

“Oh, that makes so much sense! Jongup’s mark has a moon, Himchan’s has a sun,” he said, feeling like the most stupid person in the world.

“Must be- but why is Daehyun Aka?” he asked turning to face Jaehwan, leaning his head on the couch.

Jaehwan chuckled. “I feel like an idiot- ever since I’ve known him his hair is dyed bright red.”

Hakyeon laughed when he saw the younger’s face. “You learn something new every day- but Himeji is only three people then? I thought gangs were supposed to be bigger, they are a trio.”

Jaehwan realized he’d trailed off, remembering to get back to the story. “No, they are actually six. The problem began when Daehyun marked and fell deeply in love with the chief of a Korean gang called BAP, that was a mess back in the day, the members did not take it well and it broke BAP apart.”

“Because the leader is gay.”

Jaehwan laughed. “No, it was because the Himeji are Japanese. Korean and Japanese mafia do not get along at all, they felt Bang was betraying the gang’s principles.”

“But you said he got marked, it was not like he had a choice.” Hakyeon pointed out.

Jaehwan shrugged his shoulders. “That didn’t matter to them, after that they sort of kicked him out. BAP ended up electing a new leader that took over after Bang and continued with their meth business. Two of BAP’s actually left with him, YJ and Zelo. It ended up working out well for them, Himeji took them in like family, they seem very tight. I think it’s one of the reasons why they grew so much, they get along very well.”

“Is BAP more powerful than they are?”

Jaehwan nodded. “Oh, absolutely, the police didn’t control them in time and there is no more turning back, BAP owns a part of the town now.”

Hakyeon seemed surprised by that. “And still Himeji decided to come from Japan and go into their territory?”

“Bang still has a lot of influence here, they were getting the market back, but I think they are trying to keep the peace by shifting from meth to cocaine, maybe they’re just getting out of BAP’s way. No one that I know off from Himeji has any contact with BAP anymore, Zelo went into one of their neighborhoods last year and they beat the shit out of him, almost killed him, Himeji and BAP are declared enemies after that.”

Hakyeon felt a chill go down his spine, reminded that was real life. Soon he would meet those people.

“Am I going to meet all of them?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

Hakyeon swallowed dry. “Fine, tell me about each one, then.”

“Himchan and Jongup, the founders, are in charge of the charisma, deal with people, find allies- the faces of the gang. People are scared shitless of Jongup,” he said with a casual tone.

“You don’t seem fazed by him, though.” Hakyeon pointed out.

“I’m not. He looks scary and all, but when I met him I realized his temper gets the best of him, he is too impulsive.” He raised his lip in a disapproving way, that amused Hakyeon for some reason. “Himchan is a nice shooter, though Zelo is much better, even I was impressed when I saw him.”

“Even you? What does that mean?” Hakyeon asked, amused.

“I have Seoul’s best aim as my partner, I’m not that easily impressed.”

Hakyeon was genuinely surprised. “Taekwoon? You mean you think he is the best?”

Jaehwan chuckled. “Everyone _knows_ he is the best, I knew who he was years before I met him, he has a very strong reputation.” He wondered if he should have said anything when he saw Hakyeon’s frown.

“So- Himchan and Jongup are the faces of the business and this Zelo guy’s job is shooting people?” He changed the subject, Jaehwan realized he was uncomfortable.

“Yes, you could say Zelo is their problem solver, he’s about 20 and is still much better with a gun than anyone else in his group.”

“What about the others?”

“Bang became their leader too. He is calm tempered, very smart, he was the head of the meth-making process in BAP and in Himeji too, he is the one that knows about chemicals.”

Hakyeon thought the motive behind why he was dealing so well with everything was because it seemed too distant from his ordinary reality, but it was dawning on him he was going to meet these people. He was going to see them for the next months. They would be working together. To make cocaine and traffic it to Japan.

“Aka and YJ are the main production team, they are the ones that make most of the ice-” Jaehwan saw the expression on the other’s face. “Too much? You want me to stop?”

Hakyeon felt like most of the blood had left his face, but he shook his head no. “I’m good. Have you met all of them?”

Jaehwan knew he was lying, but he went along with it.

“I have, yes. Unfortunately, I cross YJ from time to time since we like the same clubs, he is one of the most annoying people I’ve ever met. He talks too much, is obnoxiously loud and literally flirts with anything that breathes.” He vented with an annoyed voice, but continued calmly after. “Bang, Himchan and Jongup work with my boss from time to time so I see them occasionally, Himchan likes Taek a lot, I think he’s his type or whatever.” Hakyeon felt nauseous, the idea of his soulmate next to those people hitting him like a train. “Zelo is the one I see the most, he’s a nice kid, I like him-” Jaehwan saw Hakyeon was pale and stopped himself. “Okay, I think you should breathe a bit, Hakyeon, I know it’s a lot to take in.”

“I’m fine, though?” His voice broke, proving the other’s point.

Jaehwan sighed. “I know you’re hard on the fall, but this is too much, it’s okay to be overwhelmed.”

Hakyeon just nodded, he couldn’t say anything to Jaehwan. He had been in a mix of fear and adrenaline for the past weeks, every day there was something new for him to deal with. It was in fact too much.

Living with Hakyeon for the last week had been difficult for Taekwoon, he had been asking his soulmate all sorts of questions to understand his job. His answers didn’t change how Hakyeon saw Taekwoon, but there was a lot of ways someone’s past can shape their future, the older knew that now.

“What else do I need to know other than who they are?”

“You need to know how to act in front of them, you can’t be yourself, you’re too-”

Hakyeon raised a brow. “Too?”

“You.” He huffed out a laugh. “You have a friendly energy, you seem welcoming and that’s not good. You’re too vulnerable, too open, you need to be colder.”

Hakyeon was partially offended by that. “In the way I act?”

Jaehwan nodded. “In the way you speak too. The best way to shield yourself is to not show them who you are, ‘cause the real you has no space in a place like that.”

“Okay… but- how do I do that?”

“You’re very warm, Hakyeon, you tend to touch people you like when you speak to them. They can’t suspect how close you are to Taekwoon, so when you two are talking try not to mirror his posture, don’t tilt your head, don’t open your posture, close it.” He mimicked what he was talking about on his own body. “Like cross your arms and stand up straight, that will make it seem like you’re uneasy next to him, that’s what we want.”

Hakyeon frowned. “Do I need to look scared of him?”

Jaehwan chuckled. “Everyone is scared of him. If you act like yourself it will be a tell that you know each other too much, if anyone suspects you’re his soulmate that will be a huge problem for us, it would put you in danger.”

“Do you act like you’re scared of him too?”

Jaehwan scoffed. “Fuck no. People are afraid of me too, we scare people together.” He joked.

Hakyeon was confused. “So do I act that way towards you too?”

“You already do.”

“What? You think I’m scared of you? I just pushed you to the ground!” he said with a high pitched voice, wiggling his finger in his face.

“No, I mean we are not at the level of closeness yet.” Hakyeon bit his bottom lip, _yet._ “We don’t have to pretend anything, you can just act like you already do towards me.”

“Okay- I keep thinking I’m going to mess something up, offend them and someone is gonna put a gun in my face again.”

Jaehwan shook his head. “It’s not like that, Hakyeon… We won’t be a threat to each other constantly, we are on the same side as the Himeji now, no one will try to kill you out of the blue.” He smiled at him, trying to sound reassuring. “Also, Jisoo made it seem you were his recommendation, you have Taek and me as your allies.”

Hakyeon nodded. He knew it was his irrational fear speaking from what he’d been through. “I know, you guys will be there, it will be fine.”

“Exactly, I promise I’ll look out for you.”

He smiled at Jaehwan, for some reason he felt like his words were true.

\--

Hongbin’s heart was pounding hard on his chest, so loud on his ears it covered the noise his shoes made on the sidewalk. He was the last person to arrive, opening the front door to the house and entering the crowded living room, attracting all eyes to him. The place fell into silence, his eyes scattered around and he counted 9 people, all unknown but two, Jongup and Himchan.

Jongup smiled at him as soon as he opened the door, as he usually did. Hongbin made sure he had his usual serious expression on, neutral and unreadable. _This is work, you’re at work, just act professional and you’ll get through this._

“Am I late?” Hongbin broke the silence, glancing at the expensive watch on his wrist.

Himchan shook his head. “Right on time, everyone else was early.”

Hongbin noticed everyone was scanning him from his head to his feet, nothing he wasn’t used to, but when it was that many people at the same time, it felt overwhelming. He simply nodded and chose to sit on the table, where no one was.

A short guy with thick lips chuckled and attracted Hongbin’s attention, he was leaning away from Jongup’s ear, getting glared at by the blonde, then looked at Hongbin with a smug expression, biting his lip. He frowned, confused.

Two other men walked to the table and sat down next to Hongbin, one of them had bright red hair and the other had a serious expression, but both of them had the same exact soulmate mark right beside their eyes. It was a flame, red in the center until it became blue on the edges.

“I don’t know what they told you about us.” The short-haired spoke with a surprisingly deep voice, he put Himchan’s to shame. “I’m the one in charge, I’m Bang, this is Aka.”

Hongbin remembered the message he’d read with Wonsik: _is all that red hair dye messing with your head? you’re like the president and the first lady, of course, yongguk will be in charge of the deal, he is always in charge of us._ Sitting in front of him was a red-haired and what he assumed, his in-charge soulmate. Bang was the leader.

Hongbin thought he maybe should have come up with a fake name too, but after some quick consideration he realized anyone who googled his company could find all about him, there was no point. “I’m Hongbin- Himchan and Jongup have actually not mentioned you directly, I’m afraid I don’t know much yet.”

Hongbin was lying, he knew a lot more than they thought. He and Wonsik had looked through the texts again just before he came, he knew Bang’s name was Yongguk and Aka’s name was Daehyun. He knew somewhere in the room was Jongup’s text buddy Youngjae, probably thick-lips-smug-smile-short-guy and he also knew there was a Junhong there, but he couldn’t tell which one from the four left.

Aka shook his head. “That’s fine, that’s why we’re here today.”

“Come here,” Bang said to the ones still standing, they obeyed in a heartbeat.

There were then seven people sitting and standing around the table. Hongbin turned his eyes to the three left, sitting on the couch.

The first one to catch his eye was sitting far away from the other two, looking uncomfortable to get too close, slim and dressed in a loose tucked in shirt and fitted pants, his skin tanned and glowy. The one in the middle had an amused face, like he had been laughing from a joke moments before, had brown wavy hair and was wearing pink converses. The one sitting next to him seemed like his polar opposite, long bangs parted in the middle and had the most serious expression on his face, observing everything attentively with a piercing stare.

They got up and walked to the table as well, Hongbin was surprised by how tall they were. When Bang glanced to Himchan, he began speaking.

“I think apart from you.” Himchan broke the silence, pointing to the tanned man. “And you,” he pointed to Hongbin next, “we all know at least who each other are. But for introduction’s sake- from Himeji, I’m Himchan, this is Jongup- Aka, Bang, Zelo- and this gem-” he pointed to the one smiling widely, Hongbin noticed he had been waiting his turn, a hand under his chin like he was showing himself. “Is YJ.”

The gesture left no doubt that was Youngjae, he was quite the character.

Himchan snorted and continued. “This is Hongbin, he and Bang will both lead us this time.”

As all eyes turned to him, Hongbin felt judged. He wasn’t wrong.

Taekwoon and Jaehwan knew there was going to be a rich company financing the drug scheme. As Taekwoon scanned Hongbin from his expensive watch to his stuck-up posture, he wondered how someone that rich, that had everything, couldn’t just settle. He knew Hongbin’s type, the kind of people who only thought about getting more money and power, it didn’t matter at what cost.

Himchan turned to the remaining trio, his tone was of slight mockery. “These are Jisoo’s boys. I think everyone here knows the golden duo, Leo and Ken.” Hongbin thought those were extremely fitting fake names. Leo looked like a giant, very angry kitten with his piercing stare. Ken seemed like a friendly name, fitted his relaxed attitude, leaning slightly on Leo as he listened.

“But you,” YJ interrupted, looking at Hakyeon, the older tried not to seem scared, looking at the one speaking to him. “You gorgeous human, where did you come from? Who are you?” Hakyeon had to physically hold himself from glancing to Jaehwan, his words still fresh in his mind, _flirts with anything that breathes,_ he wouldn’t forget YJ from then on.

Taekwoon raised his brow and Jaehwan snorted, Hongbin just felt like laughing. Most of the Himeji smiled, finding amusing how their Youngjae never changed.

Hakyeon licked his bottom lip before responding, voice calm even if his hands were shaking. “You can call me N, I’m the pilot.”

“Flew right into my heart. How come I’ve never heard of you before?” Jongup snorted, his friend was absolutely shameless.

Hakyeon shrugged his shoulders and gave him a hint of a smile, putting his hand on his pocket and leaning on the wall, seductive look on his face. It worked on him, all eyes checking him out. “You have now.”

Hakyeon was surprised about how things were happening, he thought people would be rude, intimidating, point guns at each other as they spoke. That wasn’t the case at all, even though he knew everyone was armed there, including Jaehwan and Taekwoon, he didn’t feel threatened. They all seemed normal. He didn’t expect himself, of all people, to be able to pretend to be comfortable. If YJ wasn’t an actual gang member he thought he could flirt back for real.

“So- I know you don’t like Leo and me,” Jaehwan said surprising Hongbin and Hakyeon, who didn’t expect that out of nowhere, all the others didn’t seem shocked. “Why did you specifically asked for us then? I was flattered.” 

“We wanted the best, the golden duo is as good as it gets. Leader insisted.” Jongup seemed to be pushing out the words, Leo found it amusing how hard that was for him. Emotions. He knew Jongup didn’t like him because of how much Himchan did.

“Wise man, we are the best. Good choice,” Jaehwan said with a smile and Hongbin almost laughed.

“Now that we’re past introductions, can we actually talk business?” Aka asked, he didn’t like to waste time.

Jongup nodded. “Bang came back from South America with Aka a week ago, they learned everything they could about the production there.”

Jaehwan raised his brow. “You two traveled to another continent just to figure it out how to make cocaine? Couldn’t you guys just have looked it up on the internet or something?”

Aka laughed. “And how would you suggest we manage to find that amount of coca leaves in Korea to make it? We had to travel to buy them and bring them back, surprisingly easy to bribe the Colombian authorities. Getting into Korea was harder because they check cargo ships really well here, but nothing much, it’s all stored now,” he said casually, Hongbin couldn’t believe how easy they made that seem.

Bang nodded. “This house is where everything is going to happen. From the production to lab refinement until we store it to export.”

The young one frowned, talking with a low voice. “Isn’t anyone going to suspect anything? I mean, there will be ten of us coming and going every day, people in the neighborhood might find it weird,” the boy said, all eyes turned to Bang for an answer.

Bang smiled at him, clearly fond of the boy. “You slept the whole way here, Zelo, we’re away from the city center, there is not much around, the next neighbor is a 5-minute walk, no one will suspect anything.”

“When will we start?” YJ asked, looking at Bang. “Aka and I normally do most of the production, we have a lot to do.”

Hongbin raised his brow, they had bought chemicals by the tons, had brought coca leaves in ship containers. Two people in the production would definitely not be enough. “How long does it take to make it?”

“About 5 days between start to finish. Normally the process is 3 to 4 days, one day in the lab for refinement and packaging.”

“Who’s gonna take care of that?” Hongbin asked.

Everyone from Himeji looked at Bang like they knew the answer, apparently, they knew something Hongbin didn’t. “Me, I’m good at that.” Hongbin nodded, no new people needed. “I was planning on starting the production as soon as the first delivery gets here, that’s on you.”

Hongbin wondered if that had been a complaint on his company’s work.

“Japan’s deadline is today, if you want to, you can start tomorrow,” he replied with a kind tone. Fake, but kind.

“Can you guarantee it will be here by then?” Aka said, definitely trying to push his buttons.

Hongbin leaned on the table, fingers intertwined loosely on the surface, looking Aka right in the eye as he answered with a calm tone. “People don’t usually disobey me, so, yes.”

Taekwoon had to control himself to not scoff, how pretentious was that rich boy. Jongup held in a smile, that’s exactly the moments where he wished to kiss Hongbin’s confidence out of him. To break him. Own him. The challenge was too inviting.

Aka seemed to like his attitude, he had a strong presence. “That’s what I like to hear.” He smiled at Hongbin, then turned to YJ. “We start tomorrow, then.”

Hongbin started to feel weirdly confident, he knew how good his leadership skills were, but starting in a new territory always made him uneasy. He liked how people were looking at him, he didn’t care if he came off as a snob, he needed more than ever to be respected.

“The rest I guess I have talked individually with each of you already, but the most important thing here is not being made by the police or by people who might want to take us down. This might go on for a few months, so we will have to keep everything a secret from anyone other than ourselves, the most important thing is discretion.”

Hongbin had already broken that rule, he had given Wonsik access to everything. If he wanted to, he could activate his phone’s microphone and be listening to the conversation at that very second. Which seemed to him like a very likely scenario.

“About the transportation, we already have a few plans, but when it starts to get closer I’ll go over with Aka and N.” Hakyeon nodded, feeling his stomach twist. It was real. He was doing that. He stepped behind Jaehwan so he could take a deep breath.

“Leo and Ken.” Jongup called them, they both turned their heads to look at him. “You know our history with BAP. If they find out, they will come for us, you need to stay sharp.”

Hongbin was making mental notes on things he would have Wonsik looking into, BAP had just made the list.

“Are you sure they have no idea now?” Jaehwan asked. “Hana is good with tracking people down and meddling into their business. Can we be sure she doesn’t know already?”

A lot of eyes turned to Zelo waiting for an answer, he looked at the floor. “Have you been talking to her?” YJ asked harshly, when the younger shook his head no he pressed. “Are you sure?”

Zelo raised his eyes, huffing out a laugh. “Don’t use that tone on me. I haven’t, not because you told me not to, but because Aka talked to me about it and _I_ decided not to.” It was obvious how angry he was. Hana was special to him, everyone could tell.

Jaehwan realized Zelo was the weak link, when he left BAP he left his girlfriend. He would have to keep an eye on that. Teenage love could fuck everyone over, he didn’t want a Romeo and Juliet situation there.

YJ seemed offended. “You listen to him more than you listen to me?”

Aka laughed from the table, lightening up the situation. “Is that surprising to you? Come on, YJ, leave him alone, if he says he didn’t, he didn’t.”

“Fine, so if Hana hasn’t been talking to Zelo, BAP has no way of knowing. The only person other than us that knows is your boss, Himchan talked to him directly.” YJ sulked, then continued looking at Jaehwan. “I hear he is good at keeping secrets, so we’re good.” His tone was extremely sarcastic. Jaehwan really didn’t like him.

“At what time can you come here?” Bang asked Hongbin. “You and I will have to sort out a lot.”

“I need to be at my company at least until after 2 p.m every day, there are things I don’t trust anyone else to go over but me, after that I can come here to meet you, but I will start to figure a few things out today so we have a head start tomorrow.”

Bang was impressed. And pleased. “Fine by me, I’ll be here by 3 p.m.”

\--

“Taek, you’re out of soju, what are we drinking now?” Hakyeon made his way back to the living room.

“Vodka?” he suggested, Hakyeon seemed to like the idea.

“You were very good today, Yeon,” the younger said after taking a shot his soulmate brought him, feeling himself starting to get tipsy, finally.

Hakyeon sat right next to him on the couch, arms brushing even though there was a lot of room not to. “You think so? I was so nervous, I thought I would mess up.”

Taekwoon smiled and shook his head. “You didn’t, you were amazing.”

“You did well too, very amazing, spectacular.”

Taekwoon snorted, amused by Hakyeon’s loose tongue, he would always get drunk first. “Thank you, but I’m used to criminals, so not that spectacular.”

“I didn’t mean that, I meant with dealing with seeing _me_ with the criminals.”

“What do you mean?”

Hakyeon turned his eyes, poking his friend as he spoke. “Don’t pretend you don’t care, I know you were nervous for me.”

Taekwoon turned his eyes, Hakyeon leaned into his arm.

“Even though you won’t say it, I know how much you love me, it makes me emotional, really,” Hakyeon slurred out, aiming to make a joke, but ending up moved by his own words.

“You’re my soulmate, what did you expect?”

“We both know that doesn’t mean anything.” His tone was hurt, but he continued with a brighter one. “I’m lucky to have you, you fucking hate everyone, but you love me unconditionally.” Hakyeon clung to his arm, smiling.

“I do love you unconditionally.” The alcohol spoke for him and Hakyeon gasped, getting teary.

“Oh my god!” His eyes widened, surprised. “I know you’re saying that because you’re getting drunk, but I’m still moved.”

Taekwoon snorted. “Don’t cry on my sweater.”

Hakyeon chopped a hand on his neck, or at least tried to, because he was too dizzy to hit the right spot, practically slapping his soulmate in the face instead.

Taekwoon brought a protective hand to his face as Hakyeon leaned back on the couch to laugh hysterically, mimicking the face the other had made.

“Stop it.”

Hakyeon didn’t care, throwing his weight on him so he could continue the teasing. “No! You looked like this-”

The older should have learned from being with Jaehwan earlier, the golden duo knew how to defend themselves. Taekwoon pushed Hakyeon off him and threw himself on top of his soulmate, a little rougher than what he had intended, but alcohol would lower his inhibitions.

Hakyeon only laughed harder, trying to lift his hands so he could continue the abuse, but the younger noticed in time and dropped his weight completely on the other, ending the distance between their bodies and also assuring Hakyeon wouldn’t move.

“Oh my god- you’re going to smush me.” Hakyeon looked at his friend’s face, he was laughing too.

“That’s what you get.”

“You’re being a bully, it’s not fair, you’re- bigger than me.” He tried to wiggle himself free, but it just made Taekwoon lose his balance and his head fall on the cushion, face buried in the other’s neck.

_Taekwoon’s head was dizzy from the alcohol, but he knew that wasn’t just a drunk decision, they both had been building up to that moment ever since they marked. Hakyeon clawed at his soulmate’s back to get a reaction, Taekwoon grunting in his mouth and breaking the rough kiss so he could make his way down to bury his face in the other’s neck._

_They were both eager, it had been five years since they had known each other and they had forbidden themselves to even think about getting close that way. It wasn’t allowed with the type of mark they had. However, as they stumbled back into Hakyeon’s house after the celebration of his nineteenth birthday, their drunk minds decided that didn’t matter._

_Taekwoon could feel the other’s warm skin against his lips as he sucked it aggressively and left a mark, feeling Hakyeon creeping up his hand to the back of his neck so he could guide their lips to clash against each other again._

The younger raised his head from the other’s neck. “Are you trying to kill me? I could suffocate!” Hakyeon exploded in laughter again.

“I wouldn’t kill you, how else would I get drunk? I have no money, you’re paying for all my drinks and living expenses.” He gave the other a smug smile.

Taekwoon raised his brow. “You’re using me as a bar?”

Hakyeon nodded immediately. “And as a hotel.”

Taekwoon snorted out a laugh, lowering his face to bite Hakyeon’s shoulder out of punishment before he climbed off him.

_Hakyeon felt Taekwoon placing kisses on his back, making his way up to his shoulder, where he bit strongly. He was aware of exactly how much strength he could use, it wasn’t their first time, after all, Taekwoon knew how Hakyeon liked it._

_Hakyeon gasped when Taekwoon started to move fast inside him. “Taek-” the older moaned through his dry lips, the other hummed as he places kisses on the back of his neck, listening. “I want to kiss you.”_

_Taekwoon smiled against his skin, loosening his grip so Hakyeon could turn to face him. “Sure.”_

_Hakyeon laced his arms around Taekwoon’s neck and kissed him gently, moaning into his mouth when the younger invaded him with one strong stroke again. Taekwoon was a wildfire and Hakyeon was a soft breeze, but they were used to the other’s natural rhythm, even if they didn’t match perfectly._

“Ow, that hurt!” Hakyeon complained laughing, bringing a hand to cover his shoulder.

Taekwoon turned his eyes. “Please, I know you don’t like it when it hurts, that was nothing.”

Hakyeon pouted. “I fear for your soulmate’s life.”

“Why?”

“Because,” he took a sip of his vodka drink before he continued, “if he is your perfect match, he’ll like it as rough as you. You’ll kill him.”

Taekwoon chuckled. “I don’t think I’ll mark anymore, Yeon.”

Hakyeon frowned. “Why not?”

“Not everyone marks twice, I think I’m one of those people.”

Hakyeon shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe- don’t worry, if everything goes wrong we’ll get married.” Taekwoon narrowed his eyes at him, as if he said that would never work out. “Ok, you’re right, but we could keep on as fuck buddies forever.”

Taekwoon twisted his nose. “Please don’t call us like that.”

Hakyeon pouted. “You’re right. Casual lovers?”

“There is no love involved.” Hakyeon gasped. “Romantic love, Yeon. We’re more of- friends with benefits.”

“You don’t see yourself falling for me?”

Taekwoon thought about it for a moment. “I don’t think so, maybe in the past I could, but I’m used to our dynamic by now, it’s been how long since we hook up from time to time? 9 years?”

“8 years, but we haven’t hooked up since a little before I’ve met Minhyuk, so maybe 7 years and a half.”

Taekwoon saw the tightness in the other’s face when he thought of Minhyuk. “I’m scared it would fuck everything up, it’s not worth it, we’re fine the way we are.”

“That’s true- oh!” He suddenly changed his tone. “You think if you ever mark again he would be up for a threesome? That would be fun.”

Taekwoon choked on his drink, coughing at the rim of his cup. “I don’t know, Yeon, maybe, I don’t know. I didn’t know you would like that, you’re kind of- vanilla.”

“Excuse me?” His tone was deeply offended. “Because I like things to go slow? That’s not being vanilla! You’re just kinky as fuck.”

Taekwoon shrugged his shoulders, placing the cup back on the coffee table and looking at his friend. Hakyeon’s mouth was hanging open.

“What an idiot, I’ll show you vanilla,” he murmured, launching himself on top of the other.

Hakyeon straddled Taekwoon and pushed him on the back of the couch, pressing their lips together almost painfully, forcing his tongue’s passage. The younger was taken aback, but it had been a while since they had been together that way and he thought after Hakyeon marked they wouldn’t ever again, it felt good to have him close.

Taekwoon chuckled, kissing his soulmate back and slipping his hands under his shirt. Hakyeon slid his fingers on Taekwoon’s hair and pulled his head to the side, making way to his neck. He was surprised, Hakyeon wouldn’t normally show any signs of dominance, but he tipped his head and let it. Taekwoon knew when he decided to take the lead again Hakyeon would cave, so he waited a while for him to think he was getting his point across.

Hakyeon naturally slowed his touches, his instincts kicking in when he gave himself into the moment, focusing on the smell of his soulmate’s hair, the sound of the low breaths leaving his mouth, the way Taekwoon hummed in delight when he sucked on the skin of his neck.

Taekwoon smiled when he noticed Hakyeon starting softening up. “Are you done?”

Hakyeon raised his confused eyes for a moment, turning surprised as Taekwoon got up suddenly, holding him up by his thighs. “Oh shit.” He clung onto his soulmate, starting to laugh. “Okay, we’re both kinda drunk and your stairs are glass, I should walk.”

Taekwoon agreed, putting Hakyeon on the floor so they could walk, or stumble, up the stairs together. As soon as they reached the top they were kissing again, Taekwoon guiding them to the bedroom so he could push Hakyeon on the bed and climb on top of him.

They kissed fast and then slow, depending on who had more control at the time, getting rid of each item of clothing until they had nothing on, hands traveling wherever they wanted to, no awkwardness between them. Taekwoon pushed Hakyeon on his stomach so he could see their mark on the other’s back.

Hakyeon’s mark was made mainly of dashed and dotted lines, circles and open semi circles that came together in a random straight-line pattern, one of the circles with four arrows pointing in opposite directions, a compass rose to symbolize how they were each other’s guidance. Taekwoon made sure to kiss it from its start on the small of his lower back till its end, on the back of his neck, the other shivering under him.

The younger looked down at his own wrist, the same drawing around it like delicate jewelry, the only thing that made them different and therefore a platonic mark was the color, Taekwoon’s was black as his soulmate’s was white.

Taekwoon rubbed their marks together to release an intense burst of energy, which fogged the senses and numbed every part of their bodies. Hakyeon buried his face on the pillow, but Taekwoon could still hear him gasp and whimper, feeling himself get harder from it, missing the times the beautiful man had moaned for him.

As usual, Taekwoon slowed down when prepping Hakyeon, since he didn’t enjoy pain. He spread Hakyeon apart, massaging his entrance with the lube before he slid the first and second fingers in, starting to scissor them in and smiling as he heard the other moaning on the pillow.

“Don’t muffle it from me.”

Hakyeon grunted in annoyance, turning his face to the side. Taekwoon could see he was flushed from the effort to keep the sounds in, sliding the third finger with no warning to get a loud moan in response.

“Good,” he complimented, biting his lip. Hakyeon arched his back and Taekwoon just watched, enjoying the view.

Hakyeon pushed himself into Taekwoon’s hand and he smiled from how eager the other was, curling his fingers to get the other falling apart under his touch, panting and gasping.

Hakyeon pushed himself up again. “Taekwoon, please-”

The younger smiled, curling his fingers again and watching Hakyeon squeeze the pillow.

“Please-” Hakyeon asked again, voice weak.

The younger lowered his face so he could bite him, pulling his fingers off after, Hakyeon sighing in relief.

Taekwoon watched his soulmate’s expression as he put the condom on, it wasn’t a bad sight, his beautiful tanned skin glistening with sweat, his kiss-swollen lips parted so his deep breaths could get through, waiting patiently for him. Always so passive, so sweet.

“You’re too lazy today, vanilla, come on.” Taekwoon joked, sitting on the bed and patting on his lap, implying the other should come and sit on it.

Hakyeon snorted, propping himself up on his elbows, bold personality back for a moment. “I’m sorry, you just teased me to exhaustion, jerk.”

Taekwoon smiled at that, helping the older by holding some of his weight so he wouldn’t take all the length at once and hurt himself. They worked everything in together, Taekwoon giving some time so Hakyeon could adapt before he took control again, hands on either side of the other’s hips to control the rhythm.

Hakyeon took the other’s lips on his, kissing him passionately. Taekwoon let Hakyeon take the lead so he could place a hand around his member and start to draw out his orgasm. Hakyeon threw his head back and closed his eyes, holding the other’s shoulders so he wouldn’t fall as he rode him.

Taekwoon kissed his chest, his neck, watching Hakyeon lose himself in the pleasure. When the older opened his eyes he looked for the Taekwoon’s, teasingly licking his bottom lip and smiling at him. The younger huffed out a laugh, intensifying the movement of his hand and getting Hakyeon to fall back in his trance, eyes closed, hands squeezing his shoulder.

“You’re close, aren’t you?” Taekwoon asked, noticing how he was failing to keep a steady rhythm, moans starting to get drawn out.

When he nodded the younger took one of the support hands from his shoulders and replaced with where his own was, letting Hakyeon stroke himself as he set a slow rhythm, how he knew his soulmate liked it.

Hakyeon buried his face on the other’s neck, moaning against his skin as he felt himself getting close, digging his nails on Taekwoon’s arms. Taekwoon purposely placed his wrist over the other’s back, the moment their marks touched Hakyeon screamed in pleasure, overwhelmed by it, coming on his hand.

The warm liquid covered their chest and stomach, but Taekwoon could only focus on how his soulmate was shivering in his arms, tight around him, breathing heavily against his neck until he managed to raise his head.

“God, I missed this,” Hakyeon said ghosting over the other’s lips, Taekwoon smiled and kissed him gently, controlled.

Hakyeon noticed him holding himself back and decided to tease him.

“You’re so vanilla today, have I finally gotten to you? Are you tired? You want a cuddle?”

Taekwoon huffed out a laugh. “Then you complain I make you exhausted- stand and bend over the bed, now.”

Hakyeon laughed, getting what he wanted, whispering with an ironic tone, “yes, _sir._ ”

Hakyeon did as he was told, ever so obedient, bending over and waiting for Taekwoon to come to him, a smug smile on his lips as he rocked his hips from side to side. Taekwoon shook his head, watching the other’s playful expression.

When Hakyeon threw both his hands behind his back he heard the younger huffing out a laugh. “Cha Hakyeon,” he warned.

The older looked up with an innocent look. “Yes?”

Taekwoon snorted, placing both hands on his back, right next to his wrists, but not holding them. “Are you _teasing_ me?”

“Yes.” He turned his eyes up front again, shaking his wrists as if he said he wanted to be tied.

Taekwoon smiled, that’s how it always went between them, divided between romantic and rough to cover both soulmate’s wants. “You remember our safeword?” he asked softly, Hakyeon nodded. “If you need it, you use it, okay?”

He actually never had to, Taekwoon would never use full force on him or do most of the things he liked in bed, he knew it would make the older uncomfortable. Hakyeon simply wasn’t into taking things as far and rough as the other was, Taekwoon respected that.

When Hakyeon nodded and showed his consent Taekwoon changed, the caressing hand falling from his back. He didn’t walk to his wardrobe to get some rope or a tie to restrain Hakyeon’s wrists as he had expected, but laced his fingers on his soulmate’s hair, pulling it back roughly.

“Your job,” Taekwoon began with a low tone, sliding back unannounced inside Hakyeon in one rough movement, making him gasp in surprise. “Is to keep your hands,” he pulled out and back in abruptly again, Hakyeon moaned at the friction, still sensitive. “Crossed and over your back at all times, I won’t hold it back, understand?” He pulled his hair again.

Hakyeon nodded, intertwining his fingers to make sure he could follow the order. Taekwoon let go of his soulmate’s hair and grabbed his hips, in absolute control of the speed, shifting from the previously slow pace that made his soulmate moan lowly on his neck to a fast, harsh one.

But, oh, was Hakyeon still moaning. Taekwoon angled himself and slid in hard again, hitting the spot inside Hakyeon that made him feel numb, his hands falling from his back and a cry escaping his lips as his fingers wrapped around the fabric of the sheets of the bed, aching with pleasure.

Hakyeon felt a slap on his ass as punishment, he grunted. “I- can’t, I need- ah- the support.”

Taekwoon smiled. “Come on.” He tapped twice on the other’s back, demanding.

Hakyeon cussed at him, but his hands were behind his back again in a heartbeat. Hakyeon was obedient, docile, made it almost too easy for someone like Taekwoon to get him to submit. Taekwoon slid his hand in front of the other’s body, finding he was almost fully hard again. He teasingly took his hand off.

“Don’t do this to me.”

Taekwoon smiled pulled his hair again, bringing his mouth close to the other’s ear. “What?”

“Don’t tease me.”

Taekwoon thrust hard again and he whimpered. “Shouldn’t have teased me first then.”

“F-fuck- sorry! Please, touch me.”

Taekwoon laughed, easy. He wrapped his hand around Hakyeon’s length and began to stroke him, placing a kiss on his mark. He let Hakyeon’s hands fall from his back so he could leave marks there, licking and biting, earning cries and whimpers.

“Come for me again,” Taekwoon ordered, mouth humming on his skin and Hakyeon trembled at his words.

The older curled his fingers on the sheets, driven mad by Taekwoon’s erratic pace going in and out of him, his fast hands, him moaning against his skin.

Hakyeon came first again, tightening himself around Taekwoon and sending him over the edge too, arms lacing around his soulmate as he dropped his height on his back, biting his skin to avoid making too much noise.

When the younger pulled out Hakyeon dropped forward, collapsing on the bed. “Shit, Woonie.”

Taekwoon chuckled at him, going to the bathroom to clean himself and coming back to find the other sitting on the edge of the bed, breathing still fast, a thin layer of sweat on his forehead. Hakyeon was running a hand up and down his arm like it hurt.

Taekwoon gave Hakyeon some tissues, voice back to his normal. “Does it hurt? I’m sorry.”

Hakyeon smiled, taking the tissue and cleaning himself. “It doesn’t, don’t worry. I’m dead tired, I’m going to take a shower and go to sleep, okay?” He got up from Taekwoon’s bed.

“Sure, go.” Hakyeon turned back to look at him as he reached the door to the corridor, striking a pose and winking at him. Taekwoon huffed out a laugh and turned his eyes.

That’s how they had always done it, going on their knees for each other, moaning in each other’s ears, but snapping back into just friends as soon as it was over. They were used to doing that for a long time, it worked, it was sex, it was comfortable and convenient and good, but there were no feelings.

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOW ARE YOUR NEO HEARTS FEELING? YOU GOOD? YOU ALIVE? i hope you liked it <3


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey babes, there is a tw for this one, be aware of it, you can skip it (it's the flashback) and ask me about it in the comments
> 
> TW: child abuse (physical)

“Will you fall on your butt on all of our dates?” Sanghyuk offered both his hands to Wonsik, an amused smile on his lips.

The red-haired accepted Sanghyuk’s help to stand up, trying not to slip again and take his soulmate to the ice with him that time.

“This is an ice rink, people spend more time on their butts than actually skating, can’t blame me.” Wonsik sulked, but still wouldn’t let go of Sanghyuk for support.

The younger laughed, holding his hand firmly as they skated towards the exit of the rink. As they were taking their skates off Sanghyuk realized Wonsik was staring down, pressing his hand this and that way.

“Oh, did you hurt yourself on the fall?” the blue-haired asked worriedly.

“No, it’s just tingling a bit-” he began, but Sanghyuk’s delicate fingers were already reaching for his hand.

The younger turned to see if there were any scratches, then put a small amount of pressure on his wrist with the tip of his fingers, looking up to his face. “Does it hurt here?” Wonsik shook his head no, Sanghyuk turned it gently the other way. “And this hurts?” Wonsik shook his head once again, staring into his soulmate’s caring eyes. “It’s not sprained, but if it’s not better until the end of the night we can go to the hospital to check.”

It was endearing to Wonsik how careful Sanghyuk was with him, how delicate his touches always were. Wonsik moved his hand to wrap around his soulmate’s instead of the other way around, caressing it gently before letting it go, as if he was scared to keep it there for too long.

“It was just a fall, mon chéri, I won’t even feel it by the end of the night. Don’t worry about me, I’m clumsy.”

Wonsik watched a smile grow on the other’s face. “Mon chéri?”

The red-haired blushed when he realized he had used a pet name, rushing to explain himself. “I won’t use it if you don’t like it, I just got used to calling you like that in my head.”

“Are you kidding me? I love it.” Wonsik became even more flushed and decided to focus on putting on his shoes so he wouldn’t have to say anything else.

When they got up to leave Sanghyuk looked like he was ready to catch Wonsik, a smug smile on his lips.

Wonsik squinted his eyes. “You’re just being mean now, I’m not giving you the satisfaction of falling twice on the same night.”

They were an hour away from sunset, meaning the sky was starting to gain shades of orange and yellow, the colors mixing in the clouds and contrasting with the light blue. The soulmates decided to stop by a coffee shop to buy a drink to warm them up as they walked home, something they seemed to enjoy doing even in the coldest of days. Wonsik felt happy when he thought about the long walks they would be able to have together in the summer.

Sanghyuk chose a hot chocolate and Wonsik went for a cappuccino, they both felt like they could use something sweet to gain energy after all the skating.

“I’ve always wanted a dog, I would name it something ridiculous,” Wonsik said, taking a sip of his coffee.

Sanghyuk raised his brow. “Like what?”

“I could see myself going both ways, really. I could go for a serious name like Elizabeth or a stupid name like Butt.”

Sanghyuk laughed loudly. “You would name your dog Butt?”

Wonsik didn’t laugh back, answering seriously. “In a heartbeat, imagine how stupid would I look when he made me mad and I just went _Butt come here, did you pee in my bed?_ ” He made funny faces and Sanghyuk laughed even louder.

As a very cold breeze hit the two, they stopped walking and turned their backs on the wind, complaining and giggling. Wonsik stepped closer to his soulmate in a reflex, nesting his free hand between their chests so it would stay warm.

 _Don’t rush this_ , the voice in the younger’s head returned when he got the urge to kiss him again.

Sanghyuk brought his hand to find Wonsik’s, intertwining their fingers before he pulled him to start walking again. Sanghyuk thought to himself that holding hands was definitely not rushing into anything, right?

Wonsik, on the other hand, felt like he would pass out from the intimacy of the touch, at how right it felt, at how their fingers fit around each other perfectly.

They reached Sanghyuk’s building first, but when the younger tried to stop Wonsik pulled him to keep walking.

“Am I taking you home again?” Sanghyuk chuckled.

Wonsik shrugged his shoulders, speaking with a casual tone, “I thought you wanted to see my place.”

Sanghyuk’s eyes sparkled. “You’re letting me go up?”

Wonsik looked at him just so he could savor the happy look on his face. “Yes, everything is clean and tidy like it never is, so it’s ready for you.”

“I told you I don’t mind the mess.”

“I do, you need to think I’m perfect, that wouldn’t go well for me, I would lose all my cute points.”

“You’re safe, don’t worry, I think you’re cool.” he avoided saying something that would definitely make the older blush. He would save those for when they were face to face.

Wonsik laughed, exaggerating a sigh like he was relieved. Sanghyuk started to brush small geometric shapes on the other’s skin as he got distracted with their talk and Wonsik found himself endeared by the habit, smiling when he noticed it. Sanghyuk drew small triangles on his soulmate’s hand until they reached Wonsik’s building.

When they got to Wonsik’s door he glanced at the younger, who looked thrilled, like that was the best thing to ever happen to him. Wonsik laughed. “You’re actually so happy, why are you this excited about seeing my apartment?”

“I’m not _that_ excited.” Wonsik raised an ironic brow. “Okay, I have a weird thing with people’s homes, I like to see how they organize things and decorate and stuff, I’m weird.”

Wonsik chuckled. “You’re weird.”

Sanghyuk also enjoyed it because since people normally spent a lot of time in their homes, some objects were charged with their energy. He was into seeing what random things people cared a lot about. Like the vinyl in Taekwoon’s living room, those had such a strong aura is was the first thing Sanghyuk noticed when he went there for the first time.

Wonsik opened the door and stepped aside so Sanghyuk could walk in first. It was like watching a child walk past the gates of Disneyland.

Everything about that place screamed Wonsik to the younger, comforting, calming. It was small and cozy, the decorations were heavily cold-toned, except for the yellow bookshelf that screamed at him the moment he opened the door. He saw Wonsik silently going around him and flicking a different light switch, suddenly all the lights in the place turned purple.

“Oh my god.” Sanghyuk gasped in excitement. Wonsik was beyond amused, he had never seen anyone had that reaction to an apartment before. “The lighting is purple, monsieur.”

Wonsik chuckled, dropping his keys on the kitchen table and throwing his coat on the bed, already messing the place up. “I know, Hyuk. You like it?”

“I love it, it’s very you,” he said distracted by the yellow bookshelf, feeling something there and walking to inspect.

It was a watch, the band in a navy and red material, obviously in display rather than just forgotten to be put away by the older. Sanghyuk grabbed it to see it close, it was almost tingling below his fingers.

Wonsik got closer to his soulmate once he saw what he was holding, leaning his chin on Sanghyuk’s shoulder. “That’s my dad’s, he had it with him when he brought me from Toulouse, I really like it.”

 _That explains why this was screaming at me then,_ Sanghyuk placed the treasured watch back in its spot. “It’s pretty.”

Sanghyuk noticed that behind the watch there was a picture of two guys, arms around each other in something like a concert setting. Then he noticed one of them was actually Wonsik with black hair. He took the picture immediately to see it up close.

“Oh my god, that’s you with your natural hair.”

Sanghyuk kept glancing at the picture then at Wonsik’s face.

“You look so different.” For someone who had only seen his soulmate with bright red hair, plain black seemed like a drastic change. “Have you had it any other colors?”

Wonsik huffed out a laugh. “Oh, yeah. I’ve had it purple, pink, silver, light blue, bright orange.” Sanghyuk frowned. “Yep, that was not a good look on me. I’ve also had the normal ones like shades of brown and blond.”

“You must look so hot with silver hair,” Sanghyuk mumbled to himself, still watching the picture.

Wonsik snorted, embarrassed. “I look alright.”

Sanghyuk seemed to remember there was another person in the picture. “Who’s this?” he asked watching the unknown man, too far to see his face properly, but Wonsik was leaning into him, comfortable, intimate.

“That’s Hongbin. This was at a festival I dragged him to last year. See this two back here?” He pointed at two guys Sanghyuk hadn’t notice until then, making funny faces behind the brothers. “The blond is Taemin and the other is Jongin, we’re best friends from school. They helped me trick Binnie into going, we had a lot of fun, I love the memories from that weekend.”

Sanghyuk could tell, everyone was smiling widely. He put the picture back in place. “You two are very beautiful, must have destroyed many hearts in your lifetime.”

Wonsik snorted again. “He’s more of a heartbreaker than I am, I’m actually the type that gets his heart broken.”

Sanghyuk chuckled, reaching for the older’s hand as he turned to face him. “I promise I won’t break your heart.” Wonsik blushed, looking at the floor. That’s why Sanghyuk had saved all his cheesy lines.

“I appreciate it.”

Sanghyuk made small circles on the other’s palm and Wonsik smiled. “Thank you for letting me come here, this made me insanely happy.”

The words made Wonsik’s heart flutter, he realized how that was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, make the other happy. Sanghyuk was so genuine, so special, Wonsik wanted to know everything about him, wanted to buy a new apartment just so he could let Sanghyuk see it for the first time again. He desperately wanted to kiss him. The thought of Sanghyuk’s beautiful plush lips against his made his heart flutter again.

“That’s okay,” Wonsik murmured and Sanghyuk moved his hand to his red hair, fixing what the wind had rattled. “I can’t promise it will be this tidy all the time, but you’re always welcome here.”

“I promise I’ll always bring food,” the younger said in a joking voice.

“Oh- I’m the worst, I haven’t offered you anything. Do you want to drink anything? I would make you something to eat but I’m going to dinner with Hongbin in about two hours.”

Sanghyuk was still playing with his hair, distracted. “Don’t worry, I’m good, I still have some of my hot chocolate.” He slid his hands to the side of Wonsik’s face.

When his eyes found the older’s he felt the urge to kiss him again. _Don’t rush this._ Sanghyuk thought kissing the older there might give him the impression he’d only insisted on going to his apartment with second intentions, so against his will, the younger lowered his hand from the other’s face.

Wonsik cleared his throat, using the moment Sanghyuk pulled away and he felt he could breathe properly again to gather the courage and begin what he had planned. “I have something to show you.”

“What?”

“It’s a surprise.” Wonsik turned away unexpectedly and grabbed Sanghyuk’s coat.

The younger frowned, confused. “Are we going somewhere?”

“Yes.” He gave the short answer and said nothing else.

“I’m guessing you’re not telling me where.” Wonsik shook his head no and held the coat so the blue-haired could slide his arms in, Sanghyuk chuckled at the gentlemanly act.

The older put on his own coat after and led them out of the apartment, locking the door behind them. Walking to the elevators the younger was already confused, but when they got in and Wonsik pressed the button that led to the last floor of the building and not the lobby he was even more puzzled.

“I want you to close your eyes,” Wonsik blurted out, looking like he was gathering all the courage in the world to say the words.

“Why?”

“You’ll have to trust me.”

When Sanghyuk noticed how nervous the other was, how he was making an effort and stepping out of his comfort zone to do something for him he nodded, closing his eyes before the elevator got to its destination.

“Promise you won’t open until I tell you to.” Wonsik felt more confident once he didn’t have Sanghyuk’s intimidating beautiful brown eyes on him.

“I promise- no, wait, this is not revenge for my teasing earlier, right? Please don’t let me trip and fall on my ass.” Sanghyuk frowned, staring into his lids.

Wonsik huffed out a laugh. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do that to you.” The older glanced at Sanghyuk’s face and carefully reached for his hand, wrapping their fingers lightly, the magic of the bond flowing through their skins. Sanghyuk smiled. “I’ll guide you.”

When Wonsik tugged at his hand gently, Sanghyuk began to walk slowly, as to not bump in anything. If there was even anything around to bump.

“Can I open them?” Sanghyuk shivered when an unexpected cold breeze hit his face. Were they outside?

“Not yet, just a little bit more.” Wonsik stopped in the exact place he had planned, holding Sanghyuk’s shoulders and rotating him to face the right direction.

Sanghyuk almost flinched when he felt Wonsik’s hand close to his face, relaxing when he thought the older was just fixing his hair, placing a heavy lock behind his ear.

Wonsik took a deep breath, his hands shaking from nervousness. “Ok, you can open them.”

Sanghyuk fluttered his eyes open. The older heard him gasp.

They were at the building’s rooftop, that to the younger’s surprise it was not a gray and forgotten place, the floor in dark wood with perfectly taken care of gardens, the green of the plants starting to show itself again as the temperatures began to rise. Wonsik had positioned Sanghyuk facing a path of stepping stones that led to an arch, where behind it the sun had just begun to set, painting everything around them with a graceful orange sheen.

Wonsik watched the other with anticipation, the soft gold reflected in his eyes, the white flower he had placed behind Sanghyuk’s ear swaying slowly with the cold breeze.

Sanghyuk felt overwhelmed by how beautiful the scenery was, how grateful he was to the one that took him there. Wonsik. The sweet, thoughtful, amazing Wonsik. The soulmate the universe had gifted him with, the man he never thought he could deserve in a million years and yet, was probably going to stay by his side until it was time for them to leave this world.

“Sik, I-” Sanghyuk felt at a loss for words, his eyes began to water. “This is-”

“Do you like it?” Wonsik asked shyly.

“I- it’s so- I love it.”

Wonsik smiled when he heard the sincerity in the other’s tone, reaching for the flower he had put behind his ear, taking a deep breath and presenting it to his soulmate as a gift. Sanghyuk wrapped his fingers around the delicate stem, looking at the white petals like he couldn’t believe the situation. Once again, the younger never thought anyone would ever do something like that for him, surprise him by taking him to see the sunset, place a flower in his hair, hands shaking as he waited for his reaction.

“This is my happy place, I thought it was right to share it with you-”

Wonsik stopped talking when arms laced around his waist, Sanghyuk pulling him for a tight hug. The younger felt arms going around his neck only a moment after and his heart felt full when Wonsik nuzzled his shoulder, content with the touch.

“Thank you,” the blue-haired murmured against his soulmate’s coconut scented hair. Wonsik shook his head.

Sanghyuk lowered his hand to the other’s waist so he could push him away and look at his eyes as he thanked him.

Maybe that made Wonsik’s brain short circuit, or maybe it was the bond begging them to not move away from each other, or maybe it was the fact that he could feel himself falling for Sanghyuk already, but when they pulled away and he saw the sweet smile spread on Sanghyuk’s face, his eyes sparkling with moved and honest tears, Wonsik made the distance between them disappear again.

Only that time the older sealed their lips, closing his eyes as the magic thrived, getting what it wanted, soothing, calming, perfect. Wonsik almost sighed in relief at the touch, but the feeling didn’t linger for long, replaced by sudden panic over the realization he had stolen a kiss from Sanghyuk, that looked like he would pass out from shock, eyes open wide.

Wonsik took two steps back. “O-oh my god- Hyuk, I’m sorry.” Sanghyuk stood frozen in his spot, mouth open in surprise. Wonsik felt his face turning red. “I just- you were so close and you’re so beautiful- no, I mean, yes, but- oh gosh, I mean-”

The younger took in all the emotions inside of him, the ones Wonsik seemed to be able to bring up so effortlessly. He took two steps forward and felt his body shaking, when his hand found the small of Wonsik’s back his heart fluttered, when his other hand cupped Wonsik’s face he became lightheaded. However, none of those compared to the moment he leaned in again and Wonsik closed his eyes.

Sanghyuk placed a gentle kiss on Wonsik’s cheek and the red-haired’s breathing caught, then the younger moved up and placed one at his forehead, then another at the tip of his nose. The older felt Sanghyuk’s smile when he ghosted their lips, before he parted his own and fit them together perfectly.

Sanghyuk moved his hand to his soulmate hair and he gasped, pulling them even closer and tipping his head, asking for more. Wonsik felt his knees go weak when he could taste the sweet chocolate on the other’s tongue, hands moving of their own volition to claw at the younger’s back like he wanted to make sure he was real, that his mind had not created him as a twisted trick, his heart dancing erratically at his chest.

The younger’s pressed Wonsik’s body to his, his eyes shut tight as he let himself immerse in his Wonsik. Literally. His soulmate had opened himself entirely without even noticing, his magic flooding Sanghyuk all at once. His energy was soft and delicate, his soul bright and innocent, but the gentle touch still overwhelmed the younger regardless. Wonsik was wonderful, kind, sweet, Sanghyuk wished he would always feel him like that when they kissed, whole.

There was no rush, just their lips moving together softly, tongues dancing to their joined rhythm. Sanghyuk played with the hair at the back of Wonsik’s neck lazily and he almost whimpered in his mouth, he had never kissed anyone so slowly to get his heart beating so fast before.

When Sanghyuk decided to break the kiss Wonsik thought he would have a moment to put himself back together, but the younger seemed to have changed his mind only a second later, roughly clashing their lips together again.

Wonsik chuckled into his mouth, cupping his cheek so he could try and speak. “Calm- down, I’m not going- anywhere.”

Sanghyuk had to break away so he could laugh. “I’m sorry.” He brushed their noses together, Wonsik felt himself melting from his soulmate’s weak voice. “I wanted you so much it was driving me crazy.”

“Oh.” Wonsik felt his face heat up.

“You’re blushing.” Sanghyuk’s hands went down to caress Wonsik’s back gently, brushing his noses again sweetly before he pulled away to a talking distance.

“You’re too much for me to handle,” he answered simply, his hands around Sanghyuk’s shoulder for support. He needed it.

The younger smiled. “I remember you saying something like that after you stole that kiss from me.”

Wonsik lowered his head to Sanghyuk’s shoulder, embarrassed. “I was about to dig a hole in the garden to hide, you looked like you hated it.”

Sanghyuk snorted at the absurd accusation. “My only problem was that you kissed me first.”

“Loser, you got yours.” Wonsik showed his tongue playfully.

Sanghyuk got a rush of warmth and happiness from having Wonsik wrapped in his arms, smiling so beautifully at him, the bond content.

“What?” Wonsik asked, confused at his expression.

“I’m just happy it’s you.” Sanghyuk pulled him together again to kiss at the corner of his mouth, Wonsik’s heart skipped a beat.

“I’m happy it’s you too,” the older murmured before catching his soulmate’s lips on his again.

\--

 _Hongbin sighed. “Well, I’ve given you the contract yesterday, you saw the_ _amount of chemicals they bought, some were in the tons. Can you figure it out how much- coke are they actually going to make from that?”_

_Wonsik swallowed dry, apparently, it was just as hard listening to it as it was for Hongbin talking about it. “Well, I don’t have the faintest clue how to make it, how much of each- thing goes into the mix.”_

_Hongbin exhaled. “Can you like- look it up and estimate? I bet you can find some sort of recipe online.”_

_Wonsik huffed out a laugh. “It’s cocaine, not a chocolate cake.” Hongbin narrowed his eyes at him. “Fine, I’ll see what I can do.”_

“You’ve convinced me, we’ll stick with two groups,” Bang said, leaning back on the back of his chair. Hongbin nodded, he didn’t smile as a courtesy, posture straight and legs crossed, not nervous but trying to look inaccessible.

_“Why did you think I asked you to bring pizza? You haven’t eaten anything all day and I know it, bite and I’ll talk,” Wonsik said firmly, Hongbin sighed._

_“Ok, grandma.”_

_Hongbin took a slice in his hands and only then Wonsik began speaking. “Bang is delusional, it would take up to 14 months for two people to make the amount he is planning by themselves, it’s going to be a groups’ work. I did the math, two groups of four is the way to go, taking into consideration you and Bang are out of the production. You’re gonna stay in between to guarantee the product quality is the same. I took Bang out too because he is the one in charge of the lab, so that’s his job. Here are the numbers.” he slid Hongbin the paper that had all the calculations, all the double-checked formulas and possibilities, there was no arguing he was right._

“You seem to know what you’re doing, Hongbin.” The younger found the tone of surprise in Bang’s voice slightly insulting. Administrating was his job, what did this people think his company was so successful for?

“I’ve got it covered, believe me,” Hongbin said plainly, gathering the papers with Wonsik’s calculations and folding them neatly. “I’m going to make sure things keep on track.”

Bang was looking at him, not staring but analyzing how the younger presented himself, trying to figure him out. Hongbin wasn’t fazed by it.

“Himeji are good with following orders, that won’t be a problem. As soon as they get here you can tell them what you’ve come up with and we’ll divide them. As for the delivery…” he trailed off, waiting for the other to say how that situation was, Jellyfish was in charge of that.

“It’s in the delivering spot on the contract already, I went over there myself this morning,” Hongbin said trying not to sound bitter, he hadn’t been in charge of overseeing a delivery in a very long time.

Bang’s expression was obviously pleased. “Can we start tonight then?”

Hongbin shrugged his shoulders. “There is nothing stopping you, we are all set. I’ve taken a look around in the house, there are three bedrooms and a kitchen apart from this living room so I thought one room for each group, the third for storage,” he said, then pointed to the door leading to the kitchen behind him with his pen. “And you need sinks for a lab, so that’s you.”

Bang nodded, still watching the other intently. What was up with those people, why was everyone in that gang so observant?

“I thought something along those lines too. It’s good, we are on the same page.”

Hongbin then gave him a faint smile. “Perfect.” When silence followed, he thought he should ask something he’d been thinking about. “So- why cocaine?”

Bang tilted his head slightly, finding the question unexpected, crossing his arms over his chest before he answered. “We used to do crystal, but we started to have some problems with BAP, another group we have some history with, they also produce- anyway, we’ve decided to give coke a try to avoid clashing with them. It’s a glamour drug and it’s hard to smuggle into Asia, so the market here is good for it, we’ll sell it at a very high price.” Hongbin nodded, that explained how they were able to pay everyone so well.

Hongbin knew how popular was cocaine in the higher society, he’d seen it a few times himself. People were under the impression that cocaine was glamorous, when in fact it was a mix of kerosene, chlorine, acid and other things you might use to fuel your car or clean your floor. There is nothing glamorous about putting those things inside your body for a temporary high.

The first people to arrive at the house were the ones that worked for Jisoo, true to the personas Hongbin had seen the night before, Ken looked giggly, N looked tense and Leo looked angry.

_“The guy who hit on the pilot, I couldn’t believe,” Wonsik said, even if he could only hear the conversation through Hongbin’s phone strategically placed in his coat pocket, he couldn’t believe it had been real. “Was he cute, at least?”_

_Hongbin hesitated. “Well… Yeah.” The red-haired huffed out a laugh._

_“Jesus Christ, is that too hard to answer? If a guy is cute? I’m gonna revoke your bi membership card, you don’t deserve it.”_

_Hongbin laughed. “That’s not it, it’s just he wasn’t the prettiest in the room, that’s all. It’s a tie between Himchan and Leo, but the pilot is also very handsome.” When he finished speaking he saw a smile creeping up on Wonsik’s lips._

_“You couldn’t decide between three guys?” He was biting back a smile. “You can keep your card.”_

_Hongbin rolled his eyes, pushing him lightly. “Shut up.”_

“You’re here, that’s good, it’s better if we speak separately first. Hongbin has decided a few things on the production and we need to be on the same page.” Bang jumped right in the subject once he saw them, the three men stopping and paying attention to his words.

Bang had just dived into it directly, no chit-chat, so Hongbin thought he should too, stepping forward when the eyes turned to him.

“When you look into time and quantity there is a specific way things need to be done for us to be able to finish in at least four months.” Ken sighed loudly, four months. Hongbin sympathized with him.

_“How long to make everything?”_

_“Three months and 20 days, but that’s no realistic, so with the margin of error is around four and something months.” Hongbin’s eyes widened, that was so much time to spend with those people daily. He glanced down at the numbers, there was nothing to be done._

“I made some organizing, we’ll work with two groups of four for production.”

Ken glanced at Leo, Hongbin realized they didn’t look happy with what they’d heard. Leo’s strong cat stare was a full-on glare, looking at Hongbin like he wanted to blow his head off, the younger just raised his brow as a response and continued speaking, unaffected.

“In my company, we work with large-scale production and I know what it takes to make a product’s quality stay the same, someone needs to be in charge of that, checking all the time- that will be me. Bang will be in the refinement, since he’s the only one that knows how to do that. That means the remaining eight will be separated into two groups to actually make the drug.”

Ken stepped forward, looking at Bang. “We’ll be in the production?” he hissed the question.

“Yes,” Bang answered simply, Hongbin shut himself up when he saw how upset the brown-haired looked.

“What the fuck is this about? Literally anyone could do this job, why did you wanted Leo and I so bad if you just want us to stay stuck here?”

Hakyeon swallowed dry, it didn’t take long for the first conflict to appear, he knew the night before had not been a perfect example of how the next few months were going to go down. He glanced at his soulmate, he looked like he wanted to kill Hongbin, blaming the idea to make the groups on him.

Hakyeon knew Taekwoon saw a big difference between being right into the production as opposed to just looking at it from the outside. Putting hands into it would be hard for him considering his past.

Bang leaned on the wall, serious tone as he answered too, he wasn’t scared of Ken or Leo, they had worked together too many times before. “For the amount we’re paying this shouldn’t be a problem.”

Ken snorted. “You bet we’ll be adjusting that too. Are you trying to prove that you don’t like us? Because it seems like a lot of money to waste on trying to establish dominance or whatever this is.” Hakyeon swallowed dry again.

Bang didn’t seem fazed by their annoyance, he thought Ken knew him better than that, he wasn’t petty. “You know that’s not it, it’s just- we went big this time, I underestimated the number of hands we would need to make this work, Hongbin showed me the numbers, we need the help.”

“We’ll be stuck here all the time?”

“No, you’ll do the usual with Leo, this is extra.”

“So being here is not our priority?” Ken asked, letting his guard down slightly.

Bang shook his head, calm and centered, leader for a reason. “No, your priority is protecting us, that will always come first. If you need to go out to solve shit that’s why the group has four people, the others will keep things on track.” He sighed, leaning away from the wall. “Look, it’s not a lot of time, maybe one to two hours each night.”

Hongbin tried to back him up. “It’s risky bringing new people in, it’s better if we keep it between the 10 of us. From what I see it’s not hard work, seriously.”

Leo glared at him and spat back the words without giving them much thought, intimidating tone, “you’ve assigned yourself the job of going back and forth between the groups to _check_ , if you ask me, _that’s_ not hard work.”

Hongbin took a moment to understand what he’d just heard. “You think I’m trying to cut myself some slack?”

Leo’s tone didn’t change as he answered. “Can’t blame you, rich boy-” Hongbin blinked strongly after hearing that, like he couldn’t believe Leo’s words. “That’s what you must be used to, an easy life, things being done for you.”

Hongbin was the most hardworking person he knew, he was at the company all the time, had lost most of his friends because of it. He’d sacrificed a lot, nothing was handed to him. Ever.

He sent the anger coming up his throat down so he could answer with an unwavering tone. “You don’t know shit about me or my life, Leo, so I suggest you cut off that envious attitude, doesn’t look good on you.” Hongbin smirked and looked away so the other would understand their interaction was over.

Taekwoon surprised Jaehwan when he actually laughed at the end of Hongbin’s sentence, shocked by how obnoxious he was. Did the rich boy actually think he was questioning him out of envy? He couldn’t care less about his money or privileges, even when having those Hongbin had turned to crime, Taekwoon had no respect for him.

Leo still had a hint of a smile on his lips when he replied. “I know you’re taught you’re superior in private school-” The younger heard a slight hint of sarcasm in the other’s soft tone. “But this is the real world, Hongbin, don’t think people should go around kissing the ground you walk on.”

Ken sighed, cutting Hongbin before he answered, placing a hand on his partner’s shoulder. “Cut it off,” he said simply, he knew Taekwoon was stressed about something else, he wouldn’t usually be so confrontational.

Hakyeon talked next, trying to avoid Taekwoon from end up actually fighting with Hongbin. “Do we start today?” he asked looking at Bang, who had just been watching the interaction quietly.

Bang nodded. “As soon as we divide the groups,” he said then looked at Leo. “If you’re all still up for it, of course.”

Taekwoon couldn’t believe people were actually siding with Hongbin, but he took a hold of himself quickly. “Sure,” he answered dryly.

Bang nodded. “Since you know each other, I take you three want to be in the same group?”

Taekwoon snapped out of his annoyance when he remembered what was important to him, why he had to accept that scenario, helping Hakyeon was what mattered. Taekwoon couldn’t think about his past traumas and how uncomfortable he would feel in that place for the next months, he had to help his best friend.

Taekwoon nodded, he was relieved they would be on the same group so he could keep an eye on him all the time. “That’s fine.” Hakyeon was relieved too, he thought he would do much less than that, but it was good to know he would be next to Jaehwan and Taekwoon.

When the night came everyone had reunited in the house again, no one else seemed to have a problem with having to participate in the production, listening to Hongbin’s reasons and actually praising him for going through the trouble of figuring how things would work out the best for them.

Himchan seemed to be turning around on the idea that Hongbin wouldn’t be able to do well, it seemed he might do okay, after all.

“Okay, so who’s gonna go to the other group?” Zelo asked. It seemed to be the only thing left to solve, Bang had just walked everyone through the process and they were waiting to begin.

Bang was the one to answer him. “Not you, if you need to go out to solve something with Leo and Ken the group would be left only with N.”

Himchan pointed. “I think it should be either Aka or YJ because they have experience with producing, it would be good to have one in either group.”

It was everything YJ wanted to hear, a chance to go to the other group where he would be in a room with the hot pilot for at least one hour every day. The boy leaned away from the wall and theatrically walked runaway-style to where Ken, Leo and N were sat talking. When he got there, he looked back at his friends, some facepalming, some laughing at him.

“They’re prettier than you anyways, I fit in better here.” YJ sent them a flying kiss.

It dawned on Jaehwan he would be stuck with that annoying person for the next months, it took effort, but he stopped himself from complaining on the spot. Taekwoon and Sanghyuk would get an earful later, though.

“Good luck with him,” Aka said with a smirk, leading his team back to their room.

Leo got up first, going into the room without waiting for anyone else. When he saw the chemicals in the corner of the room, ready to be weighed and mixed it was like a cold bucket of water to his head.

The smell that swirled up from them brought back everything immediately.

_“Taekwoon!” His mother’s tone was angry, the boy put his hand over his mouth to cover his breathing, his heart beating wildly on his chest. He prayed she wouldn’t find him, prayed someone would save him from that hell._

_The wardrobe doors opened with a bang and Taekwoon was discovered, when he looked up he saw his mother’s sweaty face, dilated pupils and absolutely infuriated expression. She gritted her teeth, violently pulling him out of the wardrobe by his hair. It was like she would pull the strands right off his head_ , _when she was that high she would often underestimate her strength._

_“You’re pathetic, what 13-year-old hides in the closet? What did I tell you about not doing your chores? You little brat, you never obey me!” she screamed at his face, veins popping in her neck._

_“You’re insane, let go of me!” Taekwoon screamed back at her. “Those are not chores, you’re making Youngie and I slave for you and dad whilst you just sit around and get high all day,” he spat out the words, he wouldn’t often hold back, even if it meant getting beaten or worse._

_Her expression darkened. “You never know how to shut up either, do you?” she asked, pulling his hair harder, trying to hurt him, like everything else wasn’t enough. Taekwoon screamed. “We can’t do everything ourselves, can we? We can’t let you starve.”_

_“I would rather starve than have to do the things you ask me to do!” he screamed, tears starting to gather in the corner of his eyes._

_At that moment his room’s door swung open abruptly, his sister had managed to escape the basement and the ‘work’ to come and help him. When she saw the scene her eyes widened._

_Nayoung didn’t think twice, sprinting towards her mother and biting her, teeth sinking into the sweaty skin. The woman screamed in surprise, loosening her grip around Taekwoon’s hair enough so that the girl could pull him out of the room._

_They held hands as they sprinted out of the small house, not grabbing anything with them, not looking back. They kept going as fast as they could until they reached the nearby square, lying on the grass and trying to catch their breaths._

_The girl looked at her brother, cheeks pink and hair rattled._

_“Are you okay, Daeguni?” Nayoung asked once she found she could speak again, in the loving way only she would call him._

_He looked back at her, eyes wide with shock. “I can’t believe you did that- she’s going to kill you.” He sat down, staring at her face. “Like actually kill you, Nayoung, what has gotten into you? Why did you do that?” When his sister smiled at him, he couldn’t believe it._

_“I would never let anyone hurt my little brother.”_

_“Youngie, seriously, what happened? It’s not like that was the first time you saw her doing something like that to me, now she’s gonna give you hell.” His voice was guilty, he didn’t want his sister to suffer the consequences for sticking up for him like she always did._

_“What should I have done? Stand around and do nothing? You know that’s not like me.”_

_Taekwoon sighed, he knew he would have done the same. “But you didn’t have to do that,” he mumbled, then started to shake his head from side to side. “We can’t go home.”_

_“What?” she raised her eyes, meeting her brother’s._

_Their face was so similar people said Nayoung was Taekwoon with longer hair. They had the same pointy chin and chubby cheeks, the same catlike eyes, raven black hair and extremely fair complexion. Besides the similarities on the outside, the brothers were also alike in personality. Both courageous, defiant and bold. They would never stop telling their parents what they did was wrong, even if it meant getting slapped daily for it._

_“I mean it. Let’s not go back,” Taekwoon said, Nayoung frowned._

_“Daeguni, we’ve talked about this, we have no family, nowhere to go.” They only knew of a distant uncle their mom would complain about from time to time, but it was unlikely for him to take them in._

_Taekwoon had had another idea, he pulled a phone from his pocket. Nayoung knew that wasn’t his. “You took dad’s cell phone? Oh my god, they’re going to kill us.” Her voice was high pitched, horrified. “What were you thinking?”_

_“Remember when you said we should just call the police and tell them everything? When they went over to our house and found the drugs in the basement they would both go to jail and we would be free. I was afraid they would separate us, but we can beg them to put us in the same orphanage until you turn 18.”_

_The girl couldn’t believe his words. After all the times she’d asked him to go through with that plan, he’d finally come around. “What made you change your mind?”_

_Taekwoon didn’t look at her as he answered. “I had a horrible nightmare today, that you-” She didn’t even blink, expecting him to finish. “Died. She wouldn’t stop hitting you and you died,” he finished, the thought too nauseating for him._

_It was dark for a 13-year-old’s mind to go there, but Taekwoon had been through a lot. They both had. Losing her was something he couldn’t bear, she was all that he had, what helped him survive his toxic parents and their broken lives. They always said they would run away and become famous singers, the thing they loved most to do, the Jungs were going to take over the world together._

_The girl reached for her brother’s hand, he grabbed it and squeezed it strongly. “Let’s call. We won’t get separated, they’ll put us in the same place.”_

_Taekwoon felt his beat skip a beat and nodded, dialing the police number._

_He would come to regret that choice more than any other he’d ever made. He should’ve endured life in that house, all the drugs, all the abuse towards him. He should have never made that call, because when the police got to his house and arrested both his parents they didn’t end up in an orphanage. They ended up in their distant uncle’s house._

_And it was because of him that the horrible nightmare Taekwoon had had that night came true._

Taekwoon felt a hand on his back, stroking it lightly. He realized he was staring at the corner of the room, lost in his own thoughts. He looked back and saw Hakyeon, his touch so soothing that for a moment he forgot his soulmate shouldn’t be touching him at all.

His eyes widened, looking around to see who was in the room with them. Jaehwan was on the door watching the corridor, but YJ wasn’t there yet, stuck in the living room going over some details with Hongbin.

“Are you ok?” Hakyeon said in a whisper volume, looking worriedly at his face.

Taekwoon blinked strongly, softening the previous grim expression the flashback had brought him. “Yes, don’t worry,” he said and they heard steps coming closer from the hallway, Hakyeon distanced himself from his soulmate.

As fast as the emotions came, Taekwoon pushed them away, letting Leo come to the surface again.

YJ walked into their room with the most satisfied look on his face, still smiling. “Sorry, Hongbin was just helping me through some things,” he said like he had been missed by the others.

“It’s fine, let get this over with,” Jaehwan said coldly, YJ didn’t seem fazed by it.

“Fine, grumpy, I’ll start measuring everything, I’m used to that. Ken, Hongbin said he needs to speak to you so, meanwhile, Leo, do you mind helping me?”

Taekwoon closed his eyes, it was everything he didn’t want to hear, but he wouldn’t be able to explain to YJ if he said no. He started to turn around when Hakyeon stepped forward.

“Let him do the heavy work with Ken, I’ll help you with this,” he said giving YJ a charming smile. The man smirked in response, thinking N was flirting with him.

Hakyeon knew everything about Taekwoon’s life, he knew what his soulmate was forced to do in his parents' basement and he didn’t think twice before doing what he could to delay the time Taekwoon would have to relive those moments.

“Sure, gorgeous, come on, I’ll teach you,” YJ said and Jaehwan turned his eyes again, leaving the room to see why Hongbin needed him.

As Hakyeon and YJ worked on one corner of the room, Taekwoon worked on assembling the pool. The amount of chemicals and leaves they would mix per batch was so high they would have to use one of those rubber pools parents would put in their gardens for their kids to play, which made Hongbin look insane earlier when he walked into a store to buy two nowhere near summer.

Taekwoon was having a hard time doing it alone, so he decided to wait for Jaehwan to get back, going over to the box so he could read the instructions. He sat on the floor next to where YJ and Hakyeon were, playing mindlessly with his lace choker as he read the tiny letters in the box.

Taekwoon heard YJ giggling and raised his eyes, noticing he was looking at him. “Nice night, huh?” he asked with a sly smile.

“What?”

YJ pointed at his neck, Taekwoon realized in moving his fingers on the lace fabric, he had pulled the choker low enough that the hickey Hakyeon had given him the previous night was on the show.

Taekwoon kept his voice indifferent like always, watching Hakyeon blush in front of him. “Very nice.”

“I bet, Ken is hot as fuck.”

Hakyeon choked on his own saliva, YJ looked at him. “Ken?”

“Didn’t you know the Golden Duo date?”

Hakyeon blinked quite a few times before he answered. “I did not, we don’t know each other that well, to be honest.”

Taekwoon adjusted the lace around his marked neck, looking at Hakyeon. “Once you get to know me you’ll see I don’t like people meddling into my life.”

Taekwoon’s tone was cold and he caught a glimpse of amusement from the irony of the situation in his soulmate’s eyes before he got to his feet and walked to the other side of the room again. He didn’t feel like talking anyway, he felt like getting out of that goddamn place.

When Jaehwan came back, he kept glancing at Taekwoon, not finding unusual how silent he was, but remembering the expression he had when they walked into the room. The way Hakyeon stepped forward to comfort him like he’d seen it many times before. Jaehwan knew the time he would find it out about Taekwoon’s past was coming, his partner seemed to be reliving it.

“If you want to go outside to get some air I can handle this.”

Taekwoon didn’t raise his eyes. “I’m fine,” he mumbled, focusing on what he was doing. He remained quiet for so long after that Jaehwan didn’t expect him to say anything else. “Thanks.”

Jaehwan and Taekwoon finished their task first, so, naturally, they went to help YJ and Hakyeon so they could all go home faster. Jaehwan felt a sense of satisfaction when he saw indifferent Hakyeon was to YJ, who in contrast was giggly and bubbly thinking the older had chosen to be with him.

“Do you need anything?” Jaehwan asked YJ.

YJ shook his head no. “We’re done, gorgeous is good at his. We can just mix everything and we’re done for today.”

YJ got up and grabbed one of the powders, Taekwoon interrupted him.

“Chlorine first.”

YJ turned to look at him, he didn’t remember Bang mentioning that detail. “Did boss say that?”

Taekwoon had done that more times he could count, ever since he could walk, he knew the process. “Yes.”

YJ shrugged his shoulders, starting to pour the chemicals in the right order thanks to Taekwoon. The smell was strong in the place Taekwoon’s head was starting to hurt from it, remembering everything, but he held in for as long as he could.

“I’ll be right back,” he said when he felt himself starting to get dizzy, everyone else seemed fine with it.

Taekwoon stepped out of the room and looked for the back door so he could go to the house’s garden, taking a deep breath once he was under the night sky. It seemed like the universe had a dark and twisted sense of humor, throwing him back into the life he prayed to never have again.

Taekwoon tried to erase the traumas of his childhood for a while, but when he started to succeed he also started to lose all memories of her. It wasn’t worth it. He preferred the nightmares that accompanied him for most of his life than having no chance to see his sister again.

Taekwoon walked to a bench and sat on it, watching the stars as he took a hold of himself. He had been so worried about Hakyeon being pulled into his messy life that he didn’t think about the possibility of that job being triggering to him.

“For someone that was complaining about me cutting myself some slack you seem to be enjoying your little break.” An ironic voice behind startled Taekwoon, he placed his hand over his gun.

When the older turned his head and saw Hongbin walking towards him he sighed, it was like the younger wanted to get shot, sneaking up on the best shooter in the house like that.

“Don’t you have something important to do, rich boy?” His hand fell from his waist, Hongbin truly had no idea of the danger he was putting himself in.

Taekwoon turned his back on Hongbin and crossed his arms, his attention back on the clear sky.

Hongbin spoke through his teeth, annoyed by the nickname. “I could ask you the same thing. Shouldn’t you be inside?”

Taekwoon took a deep breath trying to channel all of his holy patience, standing up and facing Hongbin. “Let me tell you something, I don’t take orders from anyone,” he took a step forward so the other could tell how serious he was talking. “Especially from someone like you.”

Hongbin didn’t like that nor did he seem intimidating, standing exactly where he was and staring into the other’s face. “Someone like me?”

Taekwoon answered with the first thing that crossed his mind, he was upset with everything he was going through and Hongbin was the just closest person for him to pour his frustrations on. “Probably the only child of a rich couple who gave you everything growing up, so now you’re here trying to find something to make you feel alive again, you need the adrenaline rush to get you through your _hard_ day to day life.”

Hongbin huffed out a laugh. “What’s your problem?”

“You. You’re my problem. Following me outside, trying to boss me around to show you know what you’re doing.” Taekwoon tipped his head, irony in his tone. “I don’t wanna be friends with you, sorry, look for approval somewhere else.”

Hongbin exploded in laughter. “Oh my god, you think I want your approval? I don’t care about what you think of me, I don’t even know you.”

Taekwoon just offered him silence, Hongbin felt something squeeze his throat, he realized he was angry. He shouldn’t be, so he took a deep breath and spoke calmly.

“I’m just trying to keep things on track, Leo, that’s all this is. I’m not chasing you.”

Taekwoon didn’t say anything again, but kept his head tipped and smiled. Hongbin felt the anger coming back.

“You’re an asshole, has anyone told you that before?”

“Plenty times, spoiled little shit,” he replied calmly and Hongbin huffed out a laugh, clearly upset.

Taekwoon realized how easy it was to make Hongbin mad, or maybe he just had a personal talent for it. “Everyone seems terrified of you, I bet you love that, makes _you_ feel alive, or maybe it makes you feel better about yourself. Just so you know- I’m not- scared of you.”

Taekwoon took another step forward, Hongbin’s smile faded when their eyes met, the older’s stare was intimidating that close. “You should be,” he said in a whisper tone, face leaning into Hongbin’s to show he didn’t need words to stand his ground. “Not many people live after talking to me like that. Don’t think I’ll be giving you special treatment because we’re working together. Stay out of my way, rich boy.”

Hongbin stayed still as Taekwoon leaned back and went back into the house, huffing out a laugh and arching his brow once he was alone. For some reason Hongbin still wasn’t scared of Leo, he just seemed like a petty, full of himself guy. What he failed to realize was that was also a perfect description of himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote the hyukvi kiss about 5 times (for real) and at the end i was still not happy with it but OH WELL, i hope you liked it, they warm me up so much ):
> 
> a bit of backstory into taek's tragic life... our baby has been through a lot, you'll get to see more of his past as the story goes on
> 
> some bickering starting too, huh? what did you think of this one?


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do i know anything about guns? nope, most of gun talk in nonsense, just so you know HAHHAHA  
> also, you'll see where i got the fic title from this chapter, watch your name it's an amazing movie seriously  
> enjoy it <3

The first week was running smoothly, business was doing well and everyone seemed to be getting used with each other. Well, almost everyone.

When Hongbin opened the door to the house and saw the scene in the living room he almost dropped his coffee on the floor.

He knew that whatever was happening, it wasn’t dangerous, but Ken and Zelo talking casually whilst they wavered a gun around just made him want to spin around on his spot and leave the house. Zelo watched Ken speak in absolute admiration, his eyes sparkling as if the older was his favorite person in the world.

“You can ask Leo to show you, he would have no problem with that,” Ken said casually.

“I d-don’t know, I don’t want to bother him-” Zelo shuttered, cheeks warming as if one of his friends was about to expose him to his crush.

“It’s fine, he won’t mind. L!” Jaehwan screamed so his partner could hear and Zelo’s breathing caught.

Leo came from the back of the corridor into Hongbin’s line of vision, walking calmly as his heeled boots clacked on the floor. To the younger’s surprise he looked straight at him, reminding Hongbin he was just standing at the door, eyes wide and mouth gaped as he clasped his fragile coffee cup. Hongbin thought he saw Leo tilt his head, confused at his scared expression, but the younger quickly snapped out of his shocked state, welcomed himself in and went to take off his coat.

Leo shifted his eyes from Hongbin to look at his partner, waiting for an explanation to why he had been called. “Zelo wants to ask you something.”

If admiration was what Zelo had for Ken, he truly adored Leo. His heart spiked just from looking at the oldest, not managing to say anything, eyes falling to the floor in embarrassment from acting so shyly.

Leo’s voice was soft as usual, but to Hongbin’s surprise, his normally intimidating tone was not there. “You want to see my gun?”

Zelo’s eyes shot up. “How do you know?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s an M1911 in Ken’s hand, that’s too classy for him, that’s yours.” Ken frowned, feeling insulted. “You two are having a show and tell and I see you eyeing my waist all the time trying to find where my holster is under my shirt, so-” Zelo bit his lip and Hongbin could see he was blushing.

When Taekwoon reached under his shirt and took his gun out Hongbin almost tripped over his own feet. If seeing one gun was too much, two made him feel like would pass out.

Taekwoon’s tone was surprisingly kind once again, clearly, he liked the boy. “I don’t mind it, go ahead.”

Zelo held back a smile when Taekwoon placed the gun gently in his hand. “You carry a Sig.” He gasped excitedly when the metal touched his skin. “Whoa, it’s heavy.”

Taekwoon nodded. “Yes, I like my guns that way.”

“I thought it was the other way around, you’re so fast,” Zelo murmured, eyes focused on the object in his hands.

“You’re just as fast as me, I just have more years of practice.” The younger giggled at the compliment, starstruck. “I always thought the weight helped me to keep control of the aim, it’s just personal preference. You’ll see if you move it fast, your body adjusts to it,” Taekwoon explained.

Zelo intended to raise the gun towards the wall quickly to test the theory, not paying too much attention to where. Hongbin stumbled back and held back a shriek when he found himself exactly where Zelo was pointing at.

“Oh- shit, Hongbin, sorry, I didn’t see you were there,” the younger apologized, lowering Leo’s gun from Hongbin’s face. He didn’t manage to form any words to say it was okay, but nodded, sitting at the table and looking down at his papers, trying to ignore everything happening around him.

The others continued to talk about guns models, caliber and a lot of terms Hongbin didn’t understand, doing his best to ignore the fact that they seemed to be experts. Zelo sulked when he was called back inside by Aka, taking his gun back from Ken before he disappeared into the hallway.

“What’s wrong?” Ken asked from the couch, noticing his partner turning his gun this and that way in his hand.

“I think the level is off place.”

“Just pull the slide all the way back, it should adjust it.”

Leo shook his head. “This is not your Glock, the level jumps when you line up the slide not when you lock it back.”

When Taekwoon couldn’t figure out what was wrong with his gun he went to the table next to Hongbin for some support, if he could break it down hopefully he could find what had jammed it.

Hongbin didn’t know what startled him so much, the fact that there was a pistol within his arm’s reach or the fact that Leo knew how to make one fall apart on his hands so quickly. Taekwoon went along disassembling it, inspecting it briefly before putting it back together even quicker than he had taken it apart, fingers trained and familiar. He kept the magazine off so he could test the slide, satisfied when it slid and locked as it should. Taekwoon reached for the gun’s magazine, right next to Hongbin’s lightly crumpled cup of coffee, only then noticing he staring up at him with slightly widened eyes.

“Does this bother you?” Taekwoon asked once their eyes met.

Hongbin seemed surprised by being addressed to, trailing his eyes back to the papers again before he answered lowly, using the best of his sarcastic tone, “I just don’t like the model you use, you have terrible taste.”

Taekwoon quirked an eyebrow and slid in the magazine back in with a loud click, Hongbin shivered on his chair. He heard the older chuckle and raised his eyes, only to find a very amused-looking Leo, cat eyes smaller than usual due to the smile on his lips.

“Is this funny to you?” Hongbin couldn’t help but ask, the disdain expression ticking him off.

“Yes,” Taekwoon answered immediately, like it was obvious.

“You’re kind of a jerk.” Hongbin put his pen down, watching the smirk grow wider in the other’s lips.

“That makes us even, you’re an annoying spoiled shit.” Taekwoon lifted his shit so he could place his gun back, flashing Hongbin his pale skin. The younger thought he could use some healthy sunlight.

“You’ve used that one before, running out of things to say to me already? We still have so many months to go.” He pouted, like it was a pity, Ken snorted from the other side of the room.

“I saw how much you hate that one, it’s here to stay.”

“As I said before, whatever makes you feel better about yourself.” Hongbin winked at Leo, taking a sip of his coffee, the other snorted.

“Stop bothering him, L,” Ken said from the side, Leo turned to glare at him.

“Thank you, Ken. That’s why everyone likes your boyfriend more than they like you,” Hongbin said with an accomplished smile, of all the people there, he liked Ken the most.

“See, kitten? You need to be nicer to people.” Jaehwan sighed theatrically and Hongbin raised the coffee in his direction, toasting to his statement before going out of the room.

Taekwoon walked to his partner as soon as they were alone, Jaehwan started to laugh. “You’re unreal.”

“I’m sorry, _kitten-_ ” his tone dripped with cuteness, Taekwoon turned his eyes. “I just love that he’s not scared of you in the slightest, it’s so refreshing to see someone willingly trying to piss you off.”

“He should be more careful,” Taekwoon said through his teeth.

Jaehwan snorted. “Please, like you mind someone calling you names- oh, boyfriend, don’t tell me this jealousy?” He pouted, lacing his arms around his friend neck before he could stop him. “You know you’re the only one for me, dearest, you don’t have anything to worry about.”

Taekwoon rolled his eyes as far as they could go, trying to peel away the other’s touch. “Sure, I’m the only guy on the planet that can put up with you daily.” Jaehwan gasped in protest. “Now let’s hurry up so we can finish and go home.”

Jaehwan heard the annoyance in the other’s tone, speaking in an even more ironic one in response, “sweetie, don’t be like that, that’s why people like me more.”

When Taekwoon glared at him Jaehwan took his arms from around his neck, leaving the room laughing loudly.

\--

A very serious problem between Sanghyuk, Taekwoon and Jaehwan was they were a trio. Trios cannot make teams to play board games. That serious problem seemed to have solved itself when Hakyeon came into their lives, he loved playing games and was extremely competitive, making the new tradition of game nights very interesting.

“Soulmates team?” Jaehwan suggested.

Taekwoon narrowed his eyes at him. “You know that’s not fair, Sanghyuk can feel you better than anyone else here, it’s cheating.”

“I can’t read thoughts, Taek.” The youngest chuckled.

“You told me you can feel his emotions, that’s a sort of communication, I vote no too.” Hakyeon crossed his legs on the floor as he shook his head firmly.

Sanghyuk raised his brow. “Emotions are energy like everything else, I feel it flowing from all of you too.”

Taekwoon scoffed. “Nice try, kid, I know the bond makes it easier for your magic to work. No.”

Jaehwan let a puff of air leave his nose, looking at his soulmate. “We’re too powerful together, Blue, let’s just be the bigger people and rock-paper-scissors this.”

Sanghyuk chuckled as he watched Hakyeon’s annoyed frown, punching Jaehwan’s arm. They tossed coins to sort out the teams, but apparently, the universe did want soulmates together that evening, so when Jaehwan tackled Sanghyuk to celebrate them being sorted together, Hakyeon and Taekwoon could only sigh and accept defeat.

They began playing Clue, which Hakyeon and Taekwoon won, then went to Pictionary, which Jaehwan and Sanghyuk won by far. The younger denied mind-reading several times, but no one really bought it, not even Jaehwan, who was surprised every time by how fast his soulmate guessed what he was drawing.

“We should play something I’m good at, this is infuriating.” Hakyeon huffed, eyebrows so furrowed they almost looked like a long one.

“I didn’t know you were this competitive,” Sanghyuk observed, putting the cards back together.

Taekwoon huffed out a laugh. “You’ve seen nothing, he actually started crying once when I beat him at Mario Kart.”

“You’re the one to talk about crying, you sobbed for an hour after we watched Kimi no Na wa,” Hakyeon attacked. Jaehwan and Sanghyuk bit their lips, turning their heads to look at their friend in a synchronized movement.

Taekwoon avoided the other’s eyes, focusing on Hakyeon. “That was a very long time ago, you’re just out of arguments.”

“That movie came out two years ago,” Jaehwan said with an amused face.

“It’s a beautiful movie.”

“It is, it’s just you always seemed to like documentaries and musicals, Kimi no Na wa is-” Jaehwan watched Taekwoon blush at his words, like an embarrassed child. “A romance. Pure, magical, dreamy _fated_ romance-”

Taekwoon flushed harder, getting to his feet and pointing down at his partner. “Stop it, I’m gonna get some water and you shut up about this.”

Taekwoon got into the kitchen almost tripping over his own feet, the ones left in the room chuckled to themselves.

“Fated romance, Taekwoon is really surprising.” Sanghyuk huffed out a laugh.

“Did he actually sob?” Jaehwan asked, sitting by the older on the couch.

Hakyeon nodded, remembering it vividly. “Wept on my lap on this very couch for a good half an hour, I had to stop the movie for a while.”

“Why did he cry?”

“I don’t know, when I asked he said it was the plot, the soulbound thing. You got the implied idea they’re soulbounded, right? They’re not only soulmates, but they can also change bodies, share actual thoughts even through time, life and death, those are things only soulbonded people can do.” Something in Sanghyuk ached as Hakyeon spoke, the movie had gotten that wrong, one soulbonded person could not live if his match died, he knew that better than anyone. “So, that moment at the magic hour when their bodies are swapped and they finally meet for the first time, Taekwoon just started to shake and I noticed he was crying.”

“Well, in Taek’s defense I cried watching it too,” Sanghyuk said, avoiding his own dark thoughts.

“Are we still talking about this?” Taekwoon came into the room holding a full glass of water, momentarily considering the idea of chugging it so he would have an excuse to go back into the kitchen.

“Can I ask you just one thing?” Jaehwan asked, hopeful.

“No.” Taekwoon sat next to Sanghyuk on the rug, looking at his friend as he answered.

“Oh, please, just one, then I’ll drop it,” Jaehwan pleaded, Hakyeon smiled at the brown-haired’s pout.

Taekwoon sighed. “Fine, what?”

“What moved you so much?” All eyes moved to Taekwoon, waiting for an answer, room silent.

Taekwoon sighed, feeling overnumbered. “I don’t know, I- I just felt something aching in my chest. The scene when they swap bodies and they start to scream each other’s names, running desperately looking for each other. They cross, their strings of fate tells them they are close and they just- stop. The magic hour begins and they see each other for the first time, it’s just so personal... touching. I have no other word for it.”

Silence fell across the room, everyone listened to Taekwoon’s whisper voice, his unusual openness to speak of such subject surprising Jaehwan and Sanghyuk.

“Even when separated and with no memory of who the other was, they always carried the red string with them wrapped around the wrist or the hair, like they knew something was missing- like they knew one day they would find each other. It was pure and innocent between them, it made me emotional, that’s all,” Taekwoon finished, raising his eyes to find the others were looking at him in awe. “Does that answer it?”

Jaehwan closed his mouth and nodded, satisfied. “I think I need to watch it again with you, as it turns out you understand people better than I do.”

Taekwoon huffed out a laugh, lowering his head again. “Are we done with the games?” he changed the subject quickly.

“I’m too hungry to play,” Sanghyuk murmured, chin resting on his hand.

“I already ordered, we have to wait,” Taekwoon said, patting the youngest butt lightly, he grunted and buried his face on the rug.

“I wanted to play Twister, do you still have it?” Hakyeon asked Taekwoon, he nodded.

“Oh, I love Twister, I’m really good at it,” Jaehwan said, happy with the idea.

“I’ll be the referee.” Sanghyuk offered, removing himself from any sort of physical effort.

Taekwoon went to get the game in the next room and when he returned he sat next to Sanghyuk again, pushing the box to the other two.

“You’re not playing?” Jaehwan asked, confused.

“It’s a certain loss, Hakyeon is insanely flexible,” Taekwoon said casually, he’d seen it up close many times. “You _will_ lose too, don’t do it.”

Jaehwan scoffed at the assumption, then looked at Hakyeon wanting him to join the mockery. What he saw was the smug convinced smile on the older’s lips, agreeing with his soulmate. “You think you’ll win too,” he accused the pilot.

“He will.” Jaehwan glared at Taekwoon.

“He won’t!” Jaehwan was on his feet the next second, all riled up. Hakyeon got up gracefully in contrast, walking around the other whilst he ran a condescending hand through his shoulders, smirking. “Don’t do that, Hakyeonie, you know I can put you on the ground and strap you in a heartbeat.”

“Is that so?” the older asked tipping his head, Jaehwan nodded, annoyed at how full of himself the other was. “Wanna make this interesting then?”

“I’m listening.”

“I know something I want, state your ground first.” Hakyeon placed a hand on his waist, making it look like he was mocking the other even more.

“God, you’re both idiots.” Sanghyuk couldn’t hold back the comment, Taekwoon huffed out a laugh and ruffled his blue hair.

“If I win- ah! I know, if I win you’ll force Taekwoon to show me at least 2 of his songs in the piano, he needs to sing them too.” Jaehwan ignored Sanghyuk’s offensive comment, offering his hand to Hakyeon.

The older scoffed, taking his hand. “Easy, I can get Taek to do that.” Taekwoon frowned. “If I win you’ll teach me enough self-defense that I’ll actually manage to put you on your ass.”

Jaehwan turned his eyes. “It would take me _a lot_ of classes to get you there.”

“So? I thought you here to win? Or are you scared for your butt already?”

Jaehwan glared at him and squeezed his hand tighter, shaking on the bet. The brown-haired went on to set out the mat and Hakyeon began to stretch, chuckling at how easy it had been to manipulate Jaehwan into doing what he wanted. He pulled his arms behind his back first, then bent down to the floor, keeping his legs straight.

Jaehwan abandoned his task when Sanghyuk’s sudden and loud laugh made him turn his head, his jaw dropped. He saw Hakyeon holding on the shelf delicately with one hand, because the other was holding his leg over his head, not perfectly straight, but pretty damn close, the fabric of his sweatpants stretched.

“Hakyeon dances ever since he was five, Jaehwan. I told you not to do this.” Taekwoon held back a smile from seeing the other’s face, filled with regret from what he had set himself for.

Hakyeon’s face was relaxed, the movement not hurting him in the slightest, second nature by then. Hakyeon didn’t dance professionally, but he’d done pretty much every style as a hobby as the years went on, dancing was something he loved doing and always made time for.

The older let go of his leg and it went down slowly, perfectly controlled. He cracked his fingers as he walked past Jaehwan to the mat. Sanghyuk got up promptly to grab the spinner, settling in his post as the referee, suddenly excited to see Jaehwan getting his ass kicked. Jaehwan sighed and walked to the mat too.

“About the bet-”

Hakyeon interrupted him, a smug smile on his lips. “We shook on it, are you accepting defeat just like that? That’s humiliating, Jae.”

Jaehwan frowned, falling for the teasing and looked at Sanghyuk. “You can spin it, Blue, let the old soul go first.”

“Good, thanks for volunteering. Hyuk?” Hakyeon looked at the boy for approval, he snorted and nodded, siding with the older.

“Right hand, red, Jae,” Sanghyuk told his soulmate.

Jaehwan turned his eyes, bad start for him. They went on in turns, Jaehwan’s face starting to get red from the positions he was forcing his body to be in whilst Hakyeon made the most of it, humming pleasantly at the stretch of his muscles.

The younger lost the first round and asked for two out of three, to which Hakyeon said yes to. When he lost the second round, he suggested two out of five and once again, the older took the plead.

They found themselves in a tricky position for the third round, Hakyeon was crouching on top of one leg whilst the other was completely straight to get to a circle on the other side of the mat, both hands between his thighs. Jaehwan was bragging about his luck, after more than 10 spins he had no hands on the mat yet.

Hakyeon felt a weight on his shoulder and raised his eyes to the younger’s. “That’s cheating, you can’t push me down.”

Jaehwan smiled, moving the hand to Hakyeon’s hair and brushing it back from the older’s face, fondling it. “I’m just stroking you, taking care of you.”

Hakyeon snorted, unconvinced, shaking his head from side to side so Jaehwan couldn’t reach him anymore. “No, you’re not, take your cheating hands off me.”

Taekwoon chuckled, watching the interaction with fondness, Hakyeon threatening to bite Jaehwan’s hand as he kept messing his hair around. He had been happy about how easily Hakyeon had fit in with his friends, he smiled every time Sanghyuk said he’d been texting the older or he walked into a room and saw Jaehwan and Hakyeon laughing together. They were all the ones that mattered in his life, the ones he would give up anything for. His family.

“Jae, right hand, blue,” Sanghyuk called.

“Finally.” Hakyeon sighed, bangs mussed and falling on his eyes from the younger’s ‘petting’.

Jaehwan grew a smile and decided to make a proper effort to cheat that time, sliding his arm under Hakyeon’s as he reached for the blue circle on the other side. It would seem like an affectionate hug, but Jaehwan had strategically rested his chin on the older’s shoulder and was using it and the free hand on his thigh it to push him down.

“My god, you’re such a sneaky f-” Hakyeon complained, trying to hold himself up, feeling his leg shaking with both his weight and Jaehwan’s on top of it.

“I’m not doing anything,” Jaehwan said as he forced his head down on Hakyeon’s shoulder some more, feeling the trembling of the other’s thigh under his hand. “You smell nice, I’m just trying to figure out what perfume is that. Oh, wow, is that Chanel? That’s really nice.”

“Hyuk, this is ridiculous, do something.” Hakyeon shot the boy a look, a way more serious than any of them expected.

Taekwoon snorted at his soulmate’s competitiveness. “Let it.”

“My assistant says it’s okay.” Sanghyuk smiled and took the spinner again.

Hakyeon turned to glare at Taekwoon and felt the younger’s body shaking against his, laughing. He turned to look at Jaehwan, faces centimeters apart. “What are you laughing at? Don’t make me _actually_ bite you, because I will.”

“You wouldn’t.” Jaehwan’s confident expression that close up enerved Hakyeon.

Jaehwan should know better, Hakyeon was extremely competitive and he had his entire neck on the show. The older leaned in the rest of the small distance and parted his lips, lightly nibbling at the other’s skin, right under his ear. The younger felt every inch of him freeze cold and his legs went numb, before he knew it he was sitting on the mat, Hakyeon between his legs laughing hysterically. He had fallen and taken his opponent with him.

“What the hell happened?”

“I won!” Hakyeon got on his feet feeling accomplished, raising his arms. Jaehwan cupped his neck and frowned.

“That’s not fair, he bit my neck!”

“This is war, Jae, I did what I had to win,” he spoke dramatically, Taekwoon snorted. “Now I want my classes, teacher.”

Jaehwan swatted the hand Hakyeon had offered to help him stand up, upset, speaking under his breath, “cheater.”

Jaehwan and Hakyeon were forced to do the dishes from the takeout after Jaehwan annoyed the house owner too much about wanting a rematch. Sanghyuk was left alone with his friend as the other two argued in the kitchen.

“How is everything with Wonsik?” Taekwoon took a sip of his soda, pulling both his legs up the chair.

Sanghyuk smiled immediately, almost ashamed for acting so smitten. “Great, he’s- perfect. We talk every day and I feel like an absolute idiot, because I still actually miss him.”

Taekwoon felt himself smiling back at him. “I’m surprised to see you allowing someone to get close this fast.”

“I know, it’s so unlike me,” the younger murmured, pouting. “He’s just so- I don’t know, when we kissed I could feel all of him and I couldn’t get enough of it, he’s so amazing. His energy is calming to me, I just want to be around him all the time.”

“I can tell he’s good for you, he came at the right time.”

Sanghyuk snorted. “I don’t think so, I think he came at the worst possible time, I’m the worst version of myself right now, Taek.”

The older frowned. “Why would you say that?”

“The perfect scenario would be me running into him when I’m out already.” The younger sighed, running a hand through his hair to push back his fringe. “I don’t know how long I’ll manage to hide everything from him, I’m the worst at lying, he will find out eventually.” His smile faded, the turn the conversation had taken heavy on his shoulders.

“That’s what I meant, kid. Maybe he came to finally get you out, maybe it’s time.”

Sanghyuk let out a bitter laugh. “You know I can’t do that. After my master’s I still have two years of residency. That’s two whole years of getting less than half of a proper salary to pay the bills, I need the help, Taek.”

“You know Jaehwan and I can help you, Hyuk, you know we have enough money to do it,” Taekwoon said softly, his tone reminded the younger of how his father spoke.

Sanghyuk’s father never used to scold or scream at him, he would always try to teach his son through talking and reasoning, always patient and kind. Remembering his father for the second time just made Sanghyuk sad, it was one of those nights.

“With everything that’s happening I don’t think I have the right to ask you for anything, you’re already having to deal with so much with Hakyeon and I know it’s overwhelming. I can wait, there are more important things,” he muttered, looking out the window to avoid the look he was getting.

Taekwoon listened silently until he finished, but everything about that speech was wrong to him. He knew Sanghyuk for 4 years and he’d learn to treasure the boy like they were actual family, he was the first person after Hakyeon to manage to get close to him and that was due to how wonderful he truly was. Sanghyuk was kind and good-hearted, Taekwoon couldn’t believe how unfair his life had been, someone like him should never be lonely like he was when they met.

“Hyuk, the world could be ending and I would still stop and listen to anything you asked from me. You just don’t ask, kid.” The younger didn’t expect to hear that from Taekwoon, but he smiled at it.

“Because I know what you’ll say, Taek. You and Jaehwan are always hinting me to get out, and don’t get me wrong, I’m so thankful for you worrying about me, but I need to get by on my own. It was my choice to do my master’s before my residency, you shouldn’t have to deal with the consequences of it.”

Sanghyuk loved his friends, but he wasn’t used to being taken care of yet, he knew he had to look out for himself. The idea of needing to be self-sufficient never truly went away, he was scared he would lose everything again and get stuck in a spot where he relied on other people completely like he did in the orphanage.

Taekwoon sighed, reaching for the younger’s hand. Neither of them was good at initiating hugs, but the older felt he could do that much. “Once everything with the Himeji is done, can we talk and try to figure out a way to go about this? It will be around the time you get your degree, a lot will be changing, maybe that can change too.”

Sanghyuk put his other hand on top of his friend’s, nodding. He knew that question was coming for a long time, he just expected it to be from Jaehwan, not Taekwoon. He squeezed the older’s hand gently, trying to show his appreciation, then pulled back again, a small smile growing on his lips.

“Jaehwan, I know you’re listening,” Sanghyuk said without taking his eyes off Taekwoon, having felt his soulmate coming into the room from behind him.

“I told you,” Jaehwan said looking to Hakyeon, both walking from the door to the table.

“I would be miserable if Taekwoon knew when I’m sneaking up on him,” Hakyeon said casually, kissing the top of his soulmate’s head when he saw how he had rolled his eyes. “You know what, kid, we’re both broke and needing a fresh start. Maybe we should move in together until we get on our feet again.”

Sanghyuk smiled at him, not seeming to mind him listening part of the conversation. “Maybe we should.”

“As soon as my doctor-” Hakyeon said ironically to the boy. “Allows me to fly again and I get my full salary we could find a rental.”

“You’re still on medical leave? I thought you had quit, how long can Hyuk keep you away from work?” Jaehwan asked.

The younger frowned. “I’m not _keeping_ him away from work, he’s actually concussed, he can’t fly. Hakyeon made an agreement with his company, so I can allow him to take up to 4 months with no risk of being fired, but I’m guessing as soon as the Himeji stuff is over he wants to go back to work.”

Hakyeon sighed, looking gloom. “Absolutely, I’ve never been away for that long before.”

“Maybe when you’re feeling better you could take me for a ride, captain,” Jaehwan joked, hoping he would smile.

Hakyeon huffed out a laugh, forgetting all about his sadness with a flash of the other’s smile. “Sure thing, I’ll rent a plane and show you the stars, babe.”

They ended the night after talking, eating, and laughing together, enjoying each other’s companies. They had the chance to start feeling like themselves again by the end of it and not stripped of their identities by the many lies they were forced to tell.

Jaehwan decided to stay over, as Sanghyuk was already sleeping with his head on Hakyeon’s lap on the couch and he was his soulmate’s ride home. The partners were sitting on the floor playing video games, the other two knocked out behind them.

_Is that pressure on my body what’s making me hurt so much? Why does it hurt so much? Oh, yes, I’m- dying._

_My throat is on fire. Focus, Sanghyuk, you need to know if this is Taekwoon._

_Panic is settling in as the pressure begins to rise on us. Us, I’m not alone. Us, it’s not only my panic, there are other people panicking too. I hear screams, but they sound like whispers right now, I can’t tell voices apart, but you, you’re here my- no. I can’t focus on you again, you’re distracting, consuming, I can’t. I need to know if this body is Taekwoon’s._

_I need to sit down, but someone is pushing me down- but wait- the one pushing me down-_

_I know who you are! Your energy, your soul, I’ve known it since I can remember. You’re me! I’m going to be the one trying to save this body, I’m going to be there. I’m pushing the body down, I’m telling it not to move._

_But, who is this body? Focus, Sanghyuk, reach into its soul, hold its energy, flow through its magic._

_It’s very familiar, fiery, strong, an unstoppable power. Like the center of a burning star._

_Taekwoon._

Sanghyuk shifted on Hakyeon’s lap, his breathing starting to get faster, lips set apart and frowning in his sleep. Jaehwan noticed first, pausing the game. Taekwoon glanced at his partner and followed his eyes to Sanghyuk. The older turned around, watching the boy starting to twist his expression in agony.

“Do we wake him up?” Taekwoon asked, but didn’t wait for an answer, because when the younger’s expression became of pain he knew he couldn’t let him suffer like that. The older placed a hand on the blue-haired cheek, trying to wake him up by caressing his skin gently.

_Taekwoon._

_Suddenly it’s so clear, it’s you. No doubt in my mind. It’s still somehow different, odd, weird, but it has to be from all that’s happening, from dying._

_Oh, no, no. No, please, no. Taekwoon- you’re dying. Dying in my hands._

“He’s crying,” Jaehwan murmured, placing a hand on his soulmate’s arm, rubbing it up and down. “We need to wake him up.”

_Jaehwan. Oh my god, Jaehwan is here too. How did I not notice before? Of course. He is far from us somehow, but he’s here, vibrant, yellow, buzzing, Jaehwan and he-_

_Taekwoon can’t focus anymore because there is pain, unbearable pain. Guilt, despair, dread, anxiety. Guilt._

_Guilt._

_It’s getting hard to breathe, he’s pulling the air but there is nothing coming to his lungs. I’m telling Taekwoon to stay awake, but he can’t, it’s so hard, I know, I feel it._

_Taekwoon is fighting so much. Fighting out of fear, out of guilt. Out of love._

_Love._

_It feels like a hand is clasped around his neck, crushing, killing. Feels like a knee pressing down on my- on his chest. Taekwoon can’t breathe, it hurts him, he’s dying. He’s dying._

_His vision is starting to blur, he’s still fighting, but the clasp of death is stronger than his will to live. Taekwoon, please don’t go._

_I can feel how frightened I am, the real me, as I try to save this body, I’m thinking I’m going to lose Taekwoon. Please, I can’t lose him. I won’t._

_My best friend is dying and it’s up to me to save him._

“Sanghyuk!” Jaehwan’s voice was almost a scream.

Sanghyuk sat up abruptly, hands going around his neck as he inhaled sharply, coughing. He could breathe again, like Taekwoon could not, will not. He turned his head around and found three worried set of eyes, but he only cared about one.

Sanghyuk locked his eyes on Taekwoon’s and reached into his magic, hurt by what he felt. Fiery, strong, powerful… the star in his life. Threatening to burn out.

“No,” he choked out, as he felt his chest getting heavy with realization. “Not this again, no-”

Sanghyuk threw himself on the floor, not caring about how his wrist complained at the impact, crawling to his friend as he let himself despair. The younger pulled his friend against him and buried his face on his chest, needing to feel his energy whole, untouched by the shadow of lurking death.

“It’ll be up to me to save you- I can’t handle this again,” Sanghyuk choked out, feeling hesitant arms going around him, gentle, soft, such a contrast to what lied inside of him.

“You’ll be there?” the older whispered the question, the younger nodded on his chest. “You’ll save me.”

Sanghyuk’s chest tightened. “I can’t- I won’t lose you.”

The younger couldn’t bring himself to say anything else, he was shaken to the core, he had just been forced to feel his best friend dying, there was no way he could explain how horrific that experience was. Taekwoon was like an older brother he never had, the first to take care of him and protect him after years, who led him to his soulmate so they could all build their dysfunctional family. His blazing star. There was no way he could ever let him go. Sanghyuk closed his eyes, comforting himself in the fact that at that moment, Taekwoon was fine.

Taekwoon’s fingers touched the blue strands gently, comforting the younger. In moments like those he showed himself, fragile, afraid. He focused on comforting Sanghyuk so he could forget about the warmth growing in his wrist under his and Hakyeon’s mark.

Came the moment when he couldn’t ignore it anymore, raising his eyes to find his soulmate looking at him with terrified eyes. Taekwoon turned away immediately, he couldn’t deal with that guilt right now.

“Are you sure it’s him?” Jaehwan asked.

Sanghyuk opened his eyes and let his arms fall from around his friend. “It was different, something is off but- I was there, you were there, who else could it be?”

“I’m going to be there too?”

Sanghyuk nodded. “I could definitely feel you this time, I don’t know why so sudden, but it was you and it was all at once.”

It was weird to the younger, normally he would have to go over the same thing a lot of times for it to become certain in his visions, facts came gradually, but Jaehwan came to him whole, clear as crystal.

“I touched you, could that be it?” Jaehwan asked.

Sanghyuk’s sighed and nodded. “That was it.”

“ _What_ did you see?” When Hakyeon’s voice broke near the end of the question something inside Taekwoon did too, he didn’t dare to look up at his soulmate again.

Sanghyuk closed his eyes, taking a deep, long breath. “First thing is a feeling like fire, I don’t know which one, but it’s burning through Taekwoon. Anger, jealousy, fear, guilt… any of those or maybe all of them, it’s strong and it’s consuming, you’re completely overwhelmed. Then pain comes in waves, it’s hot and cold at the same time.” Sanghyuk’s throat began to dry as he remembered how it felt, his eyes begin to burn, but he keeps going. “It hurts, so much, it’s unbearable.”

Taekwoon knew it was no use pretending he wasn’t scared as a comfort to the younger, Sanghyuk could feel his emotions, his worry, just like he did in the vision.

“Panic begins to settle when you realize what is happening to you, but it’s very clear you’re not panicking alone, fear is like air, it’s everywhere around us. I can tell there are other people there too- but whenever I try to focus on them to try and figure out who they are-”

Sanghyuk feels the first tear go down his cheek and he rushes to dry it, but another one immediately follows and he just lets it, too tired to pretend to be strong all the time. He was afraid, terrified even, he allowed himself to feel all he needed to.

“When I try to focus the pressure begins, like climbing a mountain or a roller coaster drop, it’s in all your body, uncomfortable, pushing you down, but light still. You’re conflicted, so scared and so _unbearably_ guilty, there is someone there who you feel like you’ve failed and you can’t forgive yourself for it.” The three people in that room. Taekwoon was guilty just thinking about it, that will hurt them as much as it will him. “You try to say something, maybe apologize, but you can’t because you start to fall asleep, the pressure is not just uncomfortable anymore, it’s crushing, it suffocates. It’s like someone is squeezing your throat the hardest they can, pressing their knee on your chest- and you try to hold on-”

Sanghyuk stops speaking because he can feel himself out of breath just from remembering it. It was vivid, like someone was choking him to death, the despair of realizing he was dying worsening it. He never knew Taekwoon was so intense, many emotions rushed through him in a very short period of time, it was like the suffering of two people. Surprise, anger, fear, regret, guilt, love. It was too much.

“When does it end?” Jaehwan asked, knowing Sanghyuk never got the vision whole. He had to wait and see how it ends like everyone else.

Sanghyuk raised his eyes to Taekwoon and his voice was filled with certainty. “You hold on, it’s like you’re fighting for 2 people, for 10 even. You want to live, you never give up, not for a second, I can feel it _all the time_. It stops when you sleep, but it’s not the end, I know you will come back, I know you won’t die.”

Taekwoon nodded lightly, he could bring himself to say anything. He wasn’t really scared of dying or hurting, but he was terrified about the idea of hurting those around him. Sanghyuk was right, he knew that for them, he would fight till the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well....... are you okay....


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey babes, this one took a while huh
> 
> i was just rearranging everything i already have and basically making a mess......

Hakyeon had been quiet the ride back home from the house, oddly quiet. Taekwoon was glancing at his soulmate occasionally, but didn’t say anything until he was sure Jaehwan was passed out in the back seat.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Taekwoon murmured the question, not wanting to disturb his partner awake.

Hakyeon smiled, Taekwoon knew him way too well. “I’m fine, Woonie, don’t worry. I think I just need to be alone for a little bit.”

Taekwoon was surprised with the answer, Hakyeon wasn’t the type to want to be alone when he was sad. He liked to be comforted, to be taken care off. Taekwoon felt bad when he thought about the possibility of Hakyeon being sad because of him, because of what Sanghyuk had seen. They still hadn’t talked about that.

“You want me to take you back to your place then?” the younger asked softly.

  
Hakyeon felt his body react negatively to the proposition, shivering. He hadn't spent more than a week at his own place since he had come back from his work trip, finding all the good and fun memories he had in his apartment had been replaced by the ones of him crying on the floor, covered in blood with a gun pointing to his head. It wasn’t home anymore.

“No- maybe I’ll just stay in my room at your place, read a book or break into your piano room and look for the place you hide your song journals.” Hakyeon smiled, distracting himself with a joke.

Taekwoon huffed out a laugh. “Why would you want that?”

“I need to see if you’re writing sad ballads or if you wrote me another Touch and Sketch. That’s how I figure out if you’re going through a horny phase or a melancholic phase.” Hakyeon said ironically.

Taekwoon held himself from laughing out loud and waking up his sleeping partner. “Do I only have those two?”

“From someone who has a PhD in Taekwoon-reading, affirmative.”

Taekwoon shook his head, noticing Hakyeon had turned the subject around on him, like he always did when he wanted to avoid something that was bothering him. “I’ll lock the piano room so you can’t reach any of my notebooks and you can stay.”

Hakyeon chuckled. “So they  _are_  in the piano room, interesting. If you happen to be in the horny mood I have some ideas.” Hakyeon said as naturally as one asks about the weather, not seeming to entertain the fact Jaehwan could wake up and listen to their conversation.

Taekwoon glared at his soulmate, turning to see if Jaehwan was still sleeping on the back seat. Hadn’t moved an eyelash, thankfully. “I’ll take a raincheck on that, Jae is staying over today.”

“We can invite him, I wouldn’t have a problem with that.” Hakyeon said through a smirk and Taekwoon almost choked on his own saliva.

“Jesus, what’s with you and threesomes lately? I’m starting to think I’ve tainted you.”

Hakyeon was amused by the response. “You’re just jealous, you don’t like the idea of sharing.” Taekwoon snorted at how full of himself the other was.

“Sure, like I’m the one that always calls at 3 am after having a few drinks because they have an insuppressible want for me.” It was Hakyeon’s time to snort at how full of himself his soulmate was.

“I enjoy it with you, it’s fun, is that a crime?” Hakyeon chopped the other’s neck and he smiled.

“And yet you claim I’m not the best you’ve ever had,” the younger murmured, slight hint of hurt to the statement.

“I almost regret telling you that, Scorpios hold grudges like no other.” Hakyeon pointed out.

“And Cancers are way too honest,” he replied in a heartbeat. Hakyeon almost laughed when he realized how serious his friend had taken the statement.

“Oh, you  _are_  holding on to that.” Hakyeon took in a breath to start mocking the other and Taekwoon could almost sense it coming. “Oh, Woonie, don’t be so butthurt, I always end up calling, don’t I? Take that as a compliment.”

Taekwoon turned his eyes. “I’m not butthurt, I can’t exactly compete with someone universally destined to match your vanilla needs. He being the best was expected, I accept that.”

“I’m not v-” he began, but realized the other was just trying to tease him, a sly smile on his lips, he sighed. “To be cancer-honest, he was not my best. With Minhyuk I saw how boring it was going to be,  _that’s_  what made me curious to explore.”

The hint of hurt in Hakyeon’s tone when he said his soulmate’s name and the silence that followed after gave Taekwoon a clue of why his soulmate was sad that night. The younger felt bad about bringing Minhyuk up in the first place.

Taekwoon tried to divert from the subject. “Well, I think putting an Aries and a Scorpio in the same bed would be dangerous for both your and our safety, so you can save your exploring for another time.”

Hakyeon frowned. “Wait, so you’ve never actually…” he trailed off, obviously surprised.

Taekwoon glanced at Jaehwan sleeping again, no clue he was the topic of the conversation, thankfully. “No, we’ve never, Yeon.”

“Why?” Hakyeon asked, baffled.

Taekwoon chuckled at how Hakyeon seemed to think just anyone could be friends with benefits and not develop any feelings. “We had some fire in the beginning, but I thought it would make things too complicated. We ended up growing into good friends and I guess it just never happened.”

“Never even kissed?”

“Oh, we’ve kissed plenty of times before, but always to keep a cover in a job, I don’t think that counts. It feels like acting, it’s not real.” Hakyeon found himself frowning at the mental image of Taekwoon and Jaehwan in each other’s arms, he hated it. “That’s why people think we date, we’ve been seen kissing in the field before.”

Hakyeon glanced back at Jaehwan, taking in deep breaths in his sleep. The brown-haired had his weight thrown over the seatbelt going across him, cheek smushed into it as he used it as support. It was adorable, he reminded Hakyeon of a worn out kid, passed out after a day of frantic running around.

“Yeah, now that I think of it I can’t picture you two dating,” the older murmured.

“He’s an amazing friend, but that’s it. We stick to playing video games when we’re at my place.”

“I thought he didn’t go to your place often, he seems to be there all the time,” Hakyeon observed, peeling his eyes from Jaehwan and staring mindlessly at the window again.

“I used to find excuses because you were always there and I couldn’t have you two in the same place, but I don’t have to do that anymore.”

Hakyeon chuckled faintly. “That and the fact Hyukie likes his place better.”

“He’s turning around on that, Jae has no pool.” Taekwoon joked.

“He doesn’t have a gym either.” Hakyeon whispered, falling back into the unusual silence after, lost in his own thoughts.

  
It wasn’t common for Hakyeon to let silences drag out for too long, he was bothered by them, but Taekwoon wasn’t good in initiating conversations either, so he just let it. Once Taekwoon parked the car in his driveway he turned around to wake Jaehwan up, placing a hand on his leg and shaking it roughly. It didn’t take long for the brown-haired to wake up, complaining, as usual, about how unceremonial Taekwoon was.

When Jaehwan stumbled into the house, he threw himself on the couch to hopefully fall asleep again, cuddling a cushion. It didn’t take long before the younger felt a shadow in front of him, opening his eyes to find Taekwoon, hand out and in his direction. Jaehwan knew what that meant, he was used to it, Taekwoon had never liked him to sleep on top of his knife.

Hakyeon watched the interaction silently, Taekwoon walking back to the table and placing his partner’s loaded automatic gun and knife next to a grocery bag that had a jar of strawberry jam inside.

The older found himself intrigued, but before he could reach for the gun, his soulmate went ahead of him, noticing his interest. Taekwoon removed the gun’s magazine and only then let Hakyeon have the rest, not trusting him with a loaded one. Taekwoon then casually grabbed the groceries and went into the kitchen, leaving his soulmate alone with his curiosity.

When he came back, Hakyeon was still looking at it, analyzing it from a different angle, but still holding it with the tip of his fingers like he was scared of it.

“It’s light?” Hakyeon murmured.

“It’s empty, the magazine weights it down a ton,” Taekwoon explained, holding back an amused smile from how Hakyeon seemed to trust only his digits to touch the metal.

“Is yours light like this too?”

Taekwoon reached for his holster under his shirt to take his own gun out and Hakyeon seemed to remember he was carrying a gun all of a sudden, holding back a gasp. Taekwoon slid the magazine out again before handing it to his soulmate. Hakyeon put Jaehwan’s down carefully in the glass table and went to grab Taekwoon’s, fingers hesitating in the air for a second like he was scared of it.

“It’s safe, empty.” Taekwoon reassured and Hakyeon felt confident enough to hold it, fingers then squeezing the grip like his next fear was dropping it and firing it accidentally, even with no bullets inside.

“Yours is heavier-” Hakyeon glanced at the other one at the table. “seems bigger too.”

“It is, I like to feel the weight.” Taekwoon watched his soulmate scanning the object in his hands with his lips slightly raised in something like disgust. “Why the sudden interest? You hadn’t even looked at one properly until now.”

Hakyeon shrugged his shoulders. “Feeling extra brave. Do you think you could teach me?”

Taekwoon raised both of his brows, obviously taken aback by the question. “To shoot?”

“Yeah, I was wondering what it’s like.”

Taekwoon thought about it for a moment. “I can teach you, but I’m not gonna let you go around with one.” He smiled, as if he was amused with the possibility.

Hakyeon expected that much, but he had no intention to do so, he just wanted to know how to use one in case of an emergency. “Of course. When you have time you can teach me.”

“First you ask Jae for self-defense lessons, now you ask me to teach you how to shoot. Why this, all of a sudden?”

Hakyeon shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, like he was saying it wasn’t a big deal. “No reason.” Taekwoon squeezed his eyes at him, not buying it. Hakyeon sighed loudly. “It’s just- I’ve been feeling so weak these days. So- vulnerable, I hate it.”

Hakyeon meant weak in all the possible senses of the word. He felt vulnerable and inexperienced whenever he was around any of the Himeji, but also tired of putting on a smile to seem like everything was normal to other people in his life.

Truth was he had been torn from his comfortable life because of his soulmate’s betrayal. He blamed Minhyuk for everything, it made it easier to try and hate him, he wanted to. However, a part of him fought that emotion, the magic of their bond feeling wronged to reject its match. It hurt thinking about him, Hakyeon lied to himself and smiled as if he was fine, but regardless of the horrible things Minhyuk had done, the magic that united the two still did whatever it could to protect itself, even trying to convince its host that forgiving Minhyuk and looking for him was an option. The host disagreed, he only saw one option, destroying the magic entirely.

Tearing a soulmate bond was possible, but painful. It was one thing when two soulmates never met, but once they touched and marked it was like their souls entangled with each other and split apart again. There was some of Minhyuk inside of him and some of him inside Minhyuk, for that to fade away was not easy. The body fought the tear, it hated it.

“I’m not weak. You know me and you know this won’t fucking break me, he-” Hakyeon stopped talking, taking a deep breath and collecting himself.

On hearing the words Taekwoon got confirmation on why Hakyeon had been acting so different. As someone who always talked so much about, well, everything, keeping that frustration in had to be taking a toll on him, it had to be let out eventually.

“You’re not weak, Yeon. Missing someone is not a weakness.” 

Hakyeon felt his eyes filling, his face warming. “I feel pathetic,” he admitted in a whisper.

Taekwoon sighed and slid his arm around Hakyeon’s shoulder, pulling him close and holding him tight. Hakyeon warmed up to the firm touch, feeling safe enough there that he allowed the first tear to fall down his cheek.

“You’re not pathetic, you’re human. You don’t have to be strong all the time.” Taekwoon squeezed him in his arms, comforting him in the way he always would.

“You are, why couldn’t I be?” Hakyeon murmured, rubbing his face on the other’s shirt to dry it from his shameful tears, holding on the back of his belt.

“I’m really not,” Taekwoon said back.

“You put up with me.” Hakyeon sniffled.

“You’re so hungry you’re starting to talk nonsense,” Taekwoon joked, letting the other step away from his arms.

“I’m not hungry.” Hakyeon crossed his arms over his chest.

Taekwoon narrowed his eyes. “You haven’t eaten anything today, Yeon.”

Hakyeon frowned defensively, going to argue until he realized that was true. “I had milk.”

“You had milk with your tea.”

“I’m really not hungry, Taek, I just want a warm shower where I can sit on the floor and ugly sob for about 30 minutes like I’m in a drama movie, then I’ll be good as new, you know me.” Hakyeon huffed out a laugh, knowing he was awfully dramatic.

“I’ve never seen you say no to my mushroom ramen, I could cook some of that.”

Hakyeon laughed, Taekwoon was way too patient, they could go back and forth the entire night, it was best just to agree with him. “I would eat some of that.”

“Go take your warm shower, I’ll start cooking.”

Hakyeon opened his arms to him, motioning his soulmate should come forward, a smile on his lips. Taekwoon huffed out a laugh, sliding his arms around his soulmate’s waist and placing a kiss on his cheek. The younger patted the other’s back strangely gentle, hoping Hakyeon understood what he was trying to say.  _I’m here for you._

Taekwoon sighed when Hakyeon let go and climbed up the stairs, letting his smile drop the moment he thought his soulmate couldn’t see him anymore. He hated to see Hakyeon like that, even more so when he knew there was nothing he could do about it. When Taekwoon grabbed his gun on the table and slid the magazine back in with a click the thought of  _well, you could kill him_  crossed his mind and he chuckled to himself. Minhyuk better pray to never run into him again, he wouldn’t kill him, but he might beat the shit out of him.

The hitman turned his eyes, he knew he wouldn’t do that, he knew Hakyeon wouldn’t want that. He placed his gun back on the table and turned to Jaehwan, out cold on the couch, seemingly exhausted from staying up late the night before drawing something, he had said.

“Aurora, go take a shower whilst I make dinner.” He nudged his partner with his knee, waking him up for the second time that night.

The brown-haired growled in response. “I’m clean.”

Taekwoon scoffed. “No, you’re not, go.” when Jaehwan ignored, his partner kneed him again. He opened his eyes, throwing a cushion on his ears so he would try to annoy Taekwoon like he was annoying him. “Go.” he repeated and went into the kitchen, leaving the other alone with his sudden wish to gut him.

Jaehwan tried to find the courage within himself to go shower, but the thought of leaving the warm couch was too upsetting. After a few seconds staring into the large living room, he got up, calling his friend names until he reached the second floor. The brown-haired opened the door to the room he always used when he was over at Taekwoon’s house, going in as he mumbled something about his friend being a control freak.

Jaehwan turned his eyes to himself and thought about some revenge he could inflict on his friend as punishment for being so annoying, undoubtedly Aries-like. He walked to the mirror to check his puffy cheeks and started to take his shirt off when someone came out of the suite’s bathroom.

“Woonie, I swear I’m fine-” The vision of Hakyeon on the mirror behind him made Jaehwan freeze in surprise, hands squeezing the shirt over his chest as he processed the situation.

Jaehwan’s eyes darted around the room, still drowsy and confused. There was a shirt over the chair, a book and glasses on the bedside table, strawberry scented candle lit in the corner. Obviously, Hakyeon would get the biggest suite guestroom when staying over and obviously Jaehwan had walked in without knocking and had started to undress in the middle of it.

Jaehwan felt his ears warming when he realized what he had done, letting the shirt drop and cover his body again as he turned to face the older.

“Oh, hi, Jae, I didn’t hear you knock. Do you need anything?” The older’s face was as if he was about to start crying, the tip of his nose red, but Jaehwan was so caught up in his own embarrassment he didn’t notice at first.

“O-oh, Hakyeon, I’m so sorry.” Jaehwan felt his lips dry as he tried to explain himself. “I didn’t mean to barge in like that, I got distracted and went into the wrong room.”

Hakyeon tried to put a smile on his face, shaking his head as if he was saying it was okay, but it just seemed to odd with him looking so distraught. His face fell immediately afterward, not being able to hold a fake expression for too long. Jaehwan felt his heart shrink, the older was always so smiley and so positive around him he would forget it was all for show.

“Are you okay?” Jaehwan asked before he could stop himself, his voice so small the other almost didn’t hear.

“Not really-” Hakyeon chuckled brokenly and Jaehwan felt worse. “but I will be. I’m just a little bit overwhelmed today, don’t worry.” he took a deep breath, looking up at him and managing a small smile, honest that time.

It was easy to Jaehwan to see what Hakyeon was trying to do, holding his own hands tightly, shoulders up, face tense… someone who was fighting to keep things in, hidden, forgotten. The brown-haired took two steps forward, hoping to not be crossing a line when he slid his arms around Hakyeon and pulled him closer.

Jaehwan moved carefully, waiting for Hakyeon to lean into him so he could move his hand to comfort him. The older closed his eyes, unable to resist the gentle way the other was holding him and as Hakyeon settled into his arms, Jaehwan’s fingers started to go up and down his back softly. Jaehwan felt thin arms going around his waist, a head resting on his shoulder and Hakyeon just caved, he needed the attention, he needed the hug, someone’s arms around him, the comfort, the touch.

“I’m sorry this is happening to you,” Jaehwan murmured, his hand moving up to stroke Hakyeon’s hair, gentle, surprisingly so.

“It’s not like it’s your fault,” the older whispered mindlessly, leaning into the pleasing touch.

“I’m still sorry anyway. I know it must be difficult.”

Hakyeon nodded, feeling his throat tightening. He had no idea. “It is, it sucks,” he whispered, focusing on the movement of Jaehwan’s fingers on his hair and not on the tears threatening to leave his eyes again.

Jaehwan sighed, nuzzling his hair lightly. It smelled sweet just like the last time, Hakyeon would have smiled at the act if he wasn’t so close to tears. “You’re so wonderful, Hakyeon, so strong, you’ll get through this. It may seem now like it will never be done, but you’re doing well, you just have to hold on a bit longer.”

Jaehwan noticed a light shaking in his arms and the older’s breathing hitched. Slight panic washed over him when he realized his words had somehow caused Hakyeon to start crying, not being able to keep it in anymore. Hakyeon leaned on the curve of Jaehwan’s neck and let the tears roll out, warm and bitter.

“It’s so hard,” Hakyeon said between his short breaths. “It’s too much, Jae, I can’t do it.”

When Jaehwan felt the tears wetting his shirt collar and couldn’t help the guilt, it had been his words that pushed Hakyeon over the edge. He pulled the older closer, trying to make up for it with care and affection. “You can, though, you’re already doing it. When this is all over you’ll go back to your normal life.”

The pilot shook his head, Jaehwan could tell it wasn’t a nod. “No, it’s not only that- it’s- the mark. Him.”

After the older said the words out loud it was like he’d made them become real, he felt pathetic. Hakyeon buried his face even further on the other’s neck, his hands clutching on his shirt as he let himself go.  _Weak,_  a voice in his head kept repeating and it just made him feel worse, the sobs becoming louder.

Jaehwan swallowed dry. “Oh- I know the bond must be causing you pain-” Hakyeon nodded, it was. He felt everything ache, his head throbbed loudly from the moment he would open his eyes in the morning until he went to bed at night, the skin around his mark like it was being pricked by thorns. “But you know this won’t last forever, it will fade, it will-”

“Tear,” the older completed, the sound barely a whisper muffled in Jaehwan’s neck.

Hakyeon pulled away and began to pace around the room, veins showing on his neck as anger rose to his throat. “I can’t wait until this is off me.” he grunted between sobs, his hand rubbing on his stomach roughly, like he was trying to scrape the mark off his skin. “I can’t handle it anymore, Jaehwan, I can almost feel him holding on to me, it’s driving me  _insane_. My body is fighting my efforts because of it. I want to forget him, get rid of him but unless I find some sort of closure I’m- trapped.” his voice was like he was struggling to breathe, like he had something stuck in his throat.

Jaehwan had no idea of how a soulmate tearing worked, it was the ultimate taboo, no one talked about it. Soulmates could lose their marks and tear their bond, but it came at a cost. It went beyond the pain of watching someone walk away from your life, it was the connection created begging you not to, hurting as if you were killing a part of each other.

The younger didn’t know what to say, so he just watched as Hakyeon poured his emotions out, giving him the space he needed.

“It’s almost like he is holding on, but why? Does he want me to suffer even more? Isn’t this enough? I could never  _ever_  be with him after this and he must know, but still, he grabs onto me like he owns me, like there is hope for him- for us- I-” Hakyeon stopped, holding his head like it was about to explode.

Hakyeon remembered Minhyuk’s shy smile and it was a knife on his chest, the bond begging him to forgive his soulmate, to find him before it was too late. The pilot wouldn’t have it, there was no forgiving him after what he did, there was only the painful goodbye.

“Hakyeon,” Jaehwan called softly, the older’s sparkly eyes traveled up. “It’s been like a month,” he pointed out, it was too early to expect things to go back to the way they were.

Hakyeon lowered his head again, focusing on the white marble under his feet. “I just hoped it would be easier, since I don’t have the pull-”  _since I don’t love him._

Jaehwan seemed to have understood what he was trying to say. “Soulmate marks or not, breakups are hard. You need to give yourself time, there is a lot of other things happening in your life right now. You’re doing fine, really. It’s okay to miss him.”

Hakyeon almost laughed at the accusation.

“I don’t  _miss_  him, Jae. I didn’t even have the time to properly know him, he would never let me in. I’m just physically drained from fighting my own body, the magic keeps punishing me for hating him, it  _wants_  him  _so much.”_  The intensity in his words made Jaehwan twist his nose. “But I don’t! I don’t even want to see him again, I just want to get rid of anything that still connects us. I don’t want him, I hate him.” Hakyeon felt his chest burn, body shaking in pain as the magic punished him for saying those words, for thinking of Minhyuk like that. He let himself go again, exhausted, frustrated, closing his eyes and letting the tears fall,  _weak, pathetic._

Hakyeon could sense Jaehwan standing in front of him again and, that time, he was the one who leaned in, nudging his head on the younger’s shoulder until he embraced him again. Same as before, Jaehwan let Hakyeon have as long as he wished, hands holding him with so much tenderness it was like they knew each other for years.

Something about Jaehwan just made Hakyeon want to get closer, to be in his embrace, safe. That’s what the older felt like whenever they were together, safe. Jaehwan made him comfortable to be exactly as he was, no faking, no toning down, because the younger appreciated him and even joined his antics most of the time, to Taekwoon’s absolute dismay. In his arms he didn’t have to hold back his tears, Jaehwan wouldn’t judge him, Jaehwan would hold him, comfort him. Safe.

Jaehwan counted the time passing until the older’s low sobs matched his calm breathing, distracting himself by how lovely it felt to have Hakyeon’s arms around him.

“If you ask me-” Jaehwan’s voice broke the long silence, chin on Hakyeon’s shoulder. “He is a fucking dumbass.”

  
“Why?” Hakyeon asked in a whisper, Jaehwan’s hand brushing through his hair proving to be perfectly distracting.

“I would never walk out on a beautiful guy like you,” Jaehwan said cheerfully and he could tell Hakyeon had laughed at that.

The older raised his head, Jaehwan’s hands slid to his waist, still brushing it fondly as Hakyeon showed him a smile. “You’re such a flirt.”

“I made you laugh, didn’t I?” Jaehwan grinned in return, satisfied.

“You did.” Hakyeon nodded and in the reflection of the light, Jaehwan could see his flushed cheeks were wet with tears.

The younger pulled down one of his sleeves and held it in his hand, using it to dry the tears off Hakyeon’s face. The older laughed at how clumsy he was whilst doing it when he’d been so careful with his touches that far, bumping on his nose twice and rubbing the fabric on his cheek harshly. When the rubbing became even harder Hakyeon realized Jaehwan was trying to make him smile.

“You’re gonna break my nose.” Hakyeon laughed when he tried to step away and Jaehwan’s arm didn’t let him, going around his back and pulling him close again, bodies clashing together.

Jaehwan started to move his hand randomly, even pinching the tip of Hakyeon’s nose at some point, the other just tried to tell him to stop between his loud laughs.

“Wait, I need to make sure you’re dry,” Jaehwan said with a concentrated expression when Hakyeon threw his weight back, holding him close and keeping him from moving away.

Hakyeon lifted his hand to grab Jaehwan’s, wrapping his fingers around each other and managing to stop the teasing. “Okay, okay, I think I am, thanks.”

The laughs fizzled down and they were left staring at each other. Hakyeon wondered why Jaehwan hadn’t let go of him yet, hand still resting at the small of his back. When the younger delicately shook off his other hand from his grip, Hakyeon realized he was the one that had been holding on. A blush rose to his cheek and he stepped away awkwardly.

“Thank you for helping me.” Hakyeon tried not to focus on how beautiful Jaehwan looked when he gave him that big smile.

“That’s okay, I’m always here if you need to talk or if you need someone to dry your face or something.” Hakyeon giggled and Jaehwan’s heart flipped in his chest.

“Nice, I’ve always wanted my own dryer.”

“Be aware I only take gold coins.” Jaehwan pouted.

“By that you mean you only take chocolate coins,” Hakyeon teased.

“By that I mean I only take chocolate coins,” the brown-haired agreed and they laughed together. “So, I was on my way to take a shower, Taek is cooking something.”

“Yeah, mushroom noodles.”

Jaehwan broke the awkward silence. “I’ll see you downstairs?”

Hakyeon nodded and Jaehwan smiled, closing the door behind him as he left. Just like that Hakyeon was left alone to take his warm shower and have his movie moment. But weirdly enough, he didn’t shed another tear that night. After being with Jaehwan he felt like he had no reason to.

\--

One of Hongbin’s biggest flaws was expecting people to do things like he did, thoroughly and up to almost unreachable standards, he liked things to be perfect. In his company, making sure things happened at his pace was easy, people were scared of him and respected him enough to never disobey. Things were a bit different when he was in charge of dealing with gang members, he knew he couldn’t exactly order them around, but he still didn’t have a problem with telling to their face when they made a mistake.

“Oh, you’re finally here, I need you,” Zelo said as soon as he saw Hongbin’s head peeking on the door.

Zelo was alone in the room, sitting on the floor whilst scrolling through his phone. “Why are you by yourself?” Hongbin walked in, wondering where the rest of his group was.

Zelo got up, putting his phone on his pocket. “Jongup and Himchan are in the next room, Daehyun and Bang had to leave to solve some stuff.”

Hongbin nodded. “You said you need me, what’s up?”

“Well, you’re the smartest person here-” he said seriously, Hongbin almost snorted at how naturally he had called his friends dumb. “Himchan panicked because the color is weird, he said we should throw the whole thing out and start again. I told him we should wait for you or Bang first.”

Hongbin stepped closer to check himself, frowning as soon as he did. “It’s too light, did you put in the sulfuric acid yet?”

Zelo thought about it for a moment, he didn’t know. “Jongup, come here!” he screamed to the door.

Jongup didn’t take long to come back from the other room, looking at Zelo, then realizing Hongbin was there too. “Hey, has Zelo told you about the problem yet? Their color is much darker, something is wrong.”

Hongbin nodded. “The pH is too high, the ratio of chemicals is probably wrong. Who weighed everything?”

Jongup seemed unsure. “Himchan. How can you be sure it is the pH?”

Hongbin had to talk to Himchan too, so he stepped out of the room, making sure Jongup and Zelo were following him. He went into the other group’s room after knocking briefly on the door out of habit. He saw Himchan chatting with Leo and YJ.

“Have you given your verdict yet?” Himchan asked Hongbin as soon as he saw him. “Zelo said we should wait for you before we throw it out.” He sounded bitter, Hongbin didn’t care.

“We’re not throwing it out, it’s a waste,” Hongbin said, then went close to that room’s mixture to check before speaking. It was just the color he expected, probably YJ and N had weighted everything precisely like the last time. “There are chemicals like bleach, kerosene, and ammonia here, they all have neutral to basic pH, which gives that light color you have there. If you had added the sulfuric acid in the right amount the pH would lower and you would get something like this.”

Himchan crossed his arms, defensive. “Are you sure?”

Hongbin licked his lips before answering, a hint of a smile on his lips. “Yes.”

“How?” he pressed, not wanting to take on the responsibility for his mistake. All eyes in the room ping-ponged between the two men.

Hongbin huffed out a laugh. “Because it’s my job, I wouldn’t say if I didn’t know. It’s not a big deal, Himchan, just add some acid until the color is the same as this one.”

YJ walked towards Himchan, placing a hand on his waist. “Come on, Chanie, I’ll help you out.” Zelo nodded, pulling him out of the room.

Himchan stared at Hongbin for a moment, letting his friends guide him to the door. “Thanks for clearing things up.” He patted Hongbin on the shoulder twice before he left, a slight hint of irony in his voice.

As soon as he left Ken laughed. “I hope you’re just as right as you think you are, cause he didn’t like that.” Hongbin smiled back at him and they turned their eyes together, bonding over how much they disliked Himchan.

Hongbin was an objective person, Himchan had made a mistake and after being called out he would not do it again, that’s how he had always solved problems, telling people how to improve even if they didn’t like it.

“He’s a grown ass man, he’ll deal with it,” Jongup answered before Hongbin had the chance to.

“This is good, though, good job, you can go home.” Hongbin changed the subject, it would do no good to badmouth Himchan behind his back. Just like the previous time, everything was running smoothly in room two, they worked well together.

Ken looked very satisfied, crossing his arms over his inflated chest. “Get used to it, boss, this is the best room.”

N huffed out a laugh, Leo turned his eyes. Hongbin smiled at him again, Ken was always funny.

“You’re too full of yourself,” Jongup said in a friendly tone.

Ken shrugged his shoulders. “You say that because you’re losing, blondie. We are the ones leaving early.”

“Bye,” N said, nice-as-usual tone, giving Hongbin a slight smile as he walked out the door. When Ken and Leo followed him saying simple goodbyes, Jongup and Hongbin were left alone.

Hongbin shook his head, amused. “He called you blondie.”

“Yeah, that’s just like Ken.”

Hongbin walked around checking if everything was sealed as it should, chemicals could evaporate otherwise.

“I thought after the first meeting and that misunderstanding everything would get awkward,” Hongbin admitted, crouching on the corner, turning his back on Jongup and focusing on the chore.

“Not really, Ken is really easy to deal with and N seems to be also. Leo is the one that holds grudges.”

“I’ve noticed.” Hongbin huffed, balancing himself on the ball of his feet as he tightened the lid of a bottle.

When Hongbin saw everything was like he wanted to, he got up again, groaning when his thigh hurt from the effort. Damn Wonsik and his obsession with squats.

As he put his hand over his aching thighs and squeezed them, he noticed Jongup’s presence close behind him. Too close. He turned around slowly and the blonde was suddenly only a step away from him.

“I won’t let Leo give you a hard time,” Jongup said in a whisper-like tone, tipping his head sideways and smiling. The predator look.

Hongbin felt himself stiffening, but his voice sounded completely natural. “Thank you, but I can take care of myself.” he said, moving so he could go around Jongup and leave the room.

When he did so, Jongup took a step forward and Hongbin took one back to avoid him again. There was a wall behind him then. Trapped.

Hongbin knew that could not have been an accident, that was the first time they were alone and the blonde was showing his true intentions. The texts Hongbin had read flashed his mind, Wonsik’s voice telling him to be careful. He felt uncomfortable and slightly dirty, just like he did the moment he’d seen them for the first time. That was the man who had stalked and threatened to hurt his family, the man that looked at him like he was a piece of meat, the man who said himself he wanted to break him, to own him, like he was an object to be collected, possessed.

“Oh, I know. I saw the way you talked to Himchanie, the way you talk to everyone, you can definitely take care of yourself.” His smile widened, his voice smooth as silk.

Jongup wasn’t the most subtle of men, so Hongbin could tell immediately when his eyes started to travel around his features, lingering more than it should on his lips. When the blond licked his own bottom lip, wanting, Hongbin felt himself shiver with what he could only process as disgust, aversion. He definitely felt dirty then.

“I will continue to do so everytime someone gets close to any of my limits.”

Hongbin brought his hand up to Jongup’s chest, pushing him away gently with the tip of his fingers, politely, hoping he would get the message. Surprisingly, Jongup smiled as he took a step back, watching Hongbin starting to walk away. So confident, so beautiful, trying to seem unreachable, a challenge. Jongup knew no one was truly unreachable to him.

He grabbed Hongbin by the wrist and pulled him back again, the younger’s heart spiked. He wasn’t comfortable enough with Jongup, or anyone in that place for that matter, to get close like that. No one would ever just to touch him out of nowhere there, hold him casually like they were intimate, Hongbin didn’t allow it. And there was Jongup, fingers tight and cold against his skin, eyes sharp like wanted to strip him with a stare.

“What if I try to cross it?” Jongup asked, eyes going up from Hongbin’s body to stop at his face again, his lips, then his eyes. Fervent and hungry.

Hongbin swallowed dry, pulling his wrist away roughly. “Watch it, Jongup,” he growled, done with the wordplay. It was too close to flirting and he would have none of that. “I don’t know what you’re trying to do here, but let’s just pretend it never happened and move on.”

Jongup tipped his head and he took a step forward again, hand traveling to the wall right next to Hongbin’s head. The younger was so close and smelled like expensive perfume, pink lips calling out to his, his heart raced with lust. “I don’t want to move on, I think we’re just fine like this.”

Hongbin huffed out a mocking laugh, placing a full hand on his chest that time and pushing it hard, Jongup stumbling two full steps back. “Your little message told me I had no idea of what you’re capable off, but you don’t know me either, Jongup. Get the hint and don’t test my fucking patience.”

Hongbin didn’t wait for an answer, walking out and leaving the other alone with his filthy ideas. Jongup smiled, the challenge just got better and better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh jongup, what are you doing......... don't do it....... 
> 
> sooooo, i've finally made an eng acc! my whining now has become international lol feel free to follow me, i would loooove to talk to you guys, truly ^^ [twitter](https://twitter.com/beanguni)
> 
> see ya next week


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come talk to me i'm FRIENDLY [twitter](https://twitter.com/beanguni)

“Oh my god.” Wonsik started to laugh as soon as he opened the door and saw Sanghyuk, grinning so beautifully at him it took physical effort to not tackle him into a hug. “I thought you were joking, you actually brought food, you didn’t have to.”

The younger raised his brow, welcoming himself into the apartment after taking his shoes off. “I don’t joke about food.” He kissed his soulmate’s cheek and Wonsik felt his heart fluttering from the simple act.

Sanghyuk looked around the apartment, it wasn’t like the last few times he’d been there. Everything was out of place, just like Wonsik warned him it would be, _it’s time you know the real me_ , he’d said dramatically. The blue-haired placed the food on the table, his bag on the bed and turned to talk to Wonsik properly.

The red-haired had a worried face on, lips pursed.

“What’s with the frown?” Sanghyuk placed the tip of index finger at the space between the other’s furrowed brows, brushing it till softened.

“I was watching your reaction to my mess.”

Sanghyuk huffed out a laugh. “And?”

“You couldn’t care less.” Wonsik held a smile back.

Sanghyuk giggled, the sound making the older want to squeeze him into a hug. “That’s right.”

“I missed you,” Wonsik said without thinking, his face warming after.

Sanghyuk cupped the other’s cheek and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “I missed you too, Sik.”

Wonsik felt even more shy, lowering his eyes. “I’m starving, what have you brought?”

“Sushi.” Wonsik glanced at the clear bags with white boxes inside, there were four.

“All of that is sushi?” His eyes widened in shock, two people couldn’t possibly consume that much sushi in one night.

“Yes- well, one of them has strawberry cake for dessert, but the rest is sushi. I get hungry when I study,” Sanghyuk began justifying himself, a slight pout on his lips.

Wonsik laughed, finding it adorable. “Okay, we better get started then, we have a lot to go through.”

The soulmates balanced all their scientific articles, phones, computers and food on the coffee table, sitting on the floor to start their studying night. They would laugh, kiss and talk between actually writing their papers, which made the time enjoyable. Wonsik looked at Sanghyuk with complete admiration whenever he took the time to explain anything biology related, endeared at how passionate his soulmate was about it, how generally stunning he was.

“Got it?” Sanghyuk asked, taking a strawberry that decorated the slice of his cake, licking the frosting around it before he bit into it.

Wonsik was mesmerized by the movement of his tongue, swallowing dry as he nodded. “Yep.”

“You have no idea what I’ve just said, do you?” Sanghyuk raised a brow, watching the other blush. He put the bitten strawberry down and chuckled. “I think we’re good for the day, we've been doing this for hours.”

Wonsik agreed, turning off his computer and raising his arms, realizing how tired his body actually was from being sat on the floor for that long. The red-haired closed his eyes and enjoyed the stretch, letting out a drawn-out satisfied hum at the crack of his back.

“Holy shit.” Sanghyuk’s whisper made the older open his eyes, finding the younger was staring at his stomach. “Let me see the rest.” Wonsik lowered his eyes and noticed his soulmate had seen a part of his tattoo as he stretched and felt himself blush, pulling his shirt down further to cover himself.

“Why are you so into my tattoos? You just wanna make fun of me!” Wonsik hugged his own torso, pouting.

“Please? I won’t say they are tacky, I promise, I really want to see it.” Sanghyuk caressed the other’s cheek as a way of convincing him, knowing he would cave.

Wonsik sighed. “Fine. Both?” The younger nodded, leaning back on the couch as he watched his soulmate shifting to stand on his knees.

Wonsik bit his lip shyly as he stared down at Sanghyuk, who looked up with round, anticipating eyes. The older grabbed the hem of his shirt and lift it up to his chest, the air hitting his stomach serving as a reminder of how exposed he was and making him angle himself to the side, trying to hide his face in embarrassment.

Sanghyuk didn’t know where to look, the huge tattoo on Wonsik’s side or his soulmate’s body, who was without a doubt, one of the most beautiful he’d ever seen. Wonsik’s skin was golden and smooth, his muscles defined on his long torso, he wasn’t joking when he said he enjoyed going to the gym.

“Oh my-”

Wonsik felt his face getting even warmer, he peeked from behind his arm to look down at his soulmate. “What?”

Sanghyuk forced himself to look up at Wonsik’s face again, closing his gaped mouth. “Nothing. The other is on your collarbone, right? Could you take the rest off so I can see?”

Sanghyuk didn’t expect Wonsik to take his request so quickly, but the younger saw his soulmate slide the shirt over his head and throw it on the couch in a heartbeat, not even questioning the other’s intentions.

Sanghyuk sucked in his lips, covering his mouth with his hand as his eyes trailed across the other’s body, not sure where to focus on. Wonsik felt the weight of the stare, Sanghyuk barely blinking, he felt completely bare.

“Say something.”

The younger raised his eyes to Wonsik’s again, seeing the pink tint on his cheeks. “You’re- so hot,” he managed, feeling like he’d temporarily forgotten most of his vocabulary.

“Oh my god.” Wonsik sat on his calves, burying his face in his hands so he could laugh at the unexpected statement.

“I didn’t even see the tattoo, sorry,” he confessed, Wonsik tipped himself on the couch, face still covered as he laughed loudly.

Sanghyuk felt a tug on his chest at the bubbly sound, Wonsik was lovely. So lovely.

The younger smiled, bringing his face closer to see the peeking collarbone tattoo as Wonsik still hid behind his hands, giggling. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to read this,” he murmured, Wonsik lowered his hands to cover his bare stomach, allowing his soulmate a visual to his collarbones. Sanghyuk watched it for a moment, fighting the urge to trail his fingertips over it. “Looks sexy on you.”

If Wonsik had any way of getting more flushed and red, he would have had. “Thank you, mon chéri.”

The younger’s eyes were drawn down and he wrapped his hand delicately around Wonsik’s wrist, moving his arm up so he could properly see the other tattoo. It was beautiful, the same as the others, the greek theme still present in the thin black lines. Wonsik let Sanghyuk look for a while, but eventually reached for his shirt, too shy to keep it off any longer. Sanghyuk smiled at the blush on the other’s cheeks, the way his eyes trailed down, the way he fumbled with his fingers, biting his lip timidly.

“I can’t believe someone like you can be real.” Sanghyuk broke the short silence with a compliment, fully aware of how smitten he was acting.

Wonsik snorted, shaking his head. “Are you seriously saying this to me? When you look like this?”

“I’m not talking about how you look, silly.” Wonsik frowned at his words, confused.

The younger smiled, reaching for the older’s hand and gently tugging at his arm so he would come closer. Wonsik let himself be guided to his soulmate’s lap, legs on either side of his body, Sanghyuk’s hands resting on his hips, drawing reassuring circles. Wonsik settled on his soulmate’s big thighs, making the point to not stand too close, face flushing again from the unexpected intimate act.

Sanghyuk took a deep breath, placing a strand of hair behind Wonsik’s ear as he began speaking. “I’m talking about who you are, Wonsik. I’m talking about how all your values are all tied to people you love, not to things you own and that is beautiful about you. How you’re sensitive and caring, how you always plan surprises to make me smile and change my day. How you’re so careful with your words, how you always know how to make me feel comfortable. How you’re smart, kind, gentle, how I feel I have so much to learn from you so I can become a better person, someone worthy of being by your side. I’m talking about how having you in my arms like this is enough to give me strength to keep going, Sik, how I feel the best part of my life began when my path crossed yours.”

Wonsik stared at his soulmate with an unarmed posture, like he was so surprised he didn’t know what to do with himself. All he could think of was how Sanghyuk looked as he was saying those words, like he was taking them from a place inside him of absolute certainty.

What the older didn’t know was earlier that night, as they studied, Wonsik did something as simple as laugh and something in Sanghyuk switched, he’d realized he wanted to hear that sound for all his life, he wanted to be the reason of it.

Sanghyuk had felt that particular kind of magic in other people before, but he never believed how true it was until he experienced it himself. The younger knew it was the pull the moment he got it, something in his nature that was willing to do anything for the man in his arms, that would suffer if they had to be apart, that originated from the blooming of the purest feeling. Love.

“I love you,” Sanghyuk whispered, caressing the other’s face.

Wonsik lowered his head, feeling his eyes starting to water, leaning into his soulmate’s neck so he could take a deep breath. The younger chuckled, pulling him closer and running a hand through his hair, the magic of their bond sizzling and dancing excitingly.

“I don’t know what to say,” Wonsik murmured against Sanghyuk’s skin, holding back his tears as he remembered the words. _I love you._

The younger squeezed him gently. “You don’t have to say anything, I just wanted you to know I got it, I don’t expect you to feel the same yet.”

Sanghyuk could feel Wonsik didn’t have the pull himself yet, courtesy of his magic sensibility, but he didn’t care. One day, on his own time, Wonsik would get it too. People don’t often realize they are in love at the exact same time.

Wonsik raised his head, shaking it from side to side, eyes widening slightly like he’d been terribly misunderstood. “No- that’s not what I meant. To all the wonderful things you’ve said about me.” He seemed to be struggling with his words, his fingers curled up on the other’s shirt. “Goddess, Hyuk! Ever since we met I’ve felt like this had to be a misunderstanding, I couldn’t possibly be destined for someone like you. Don’t you realize how special you are? You don’t have anything to learn from me, you’re already kind, gentle and caring. The way you hug me and kiss me like I’m the most precious thing you’ve ever held, I swear it makes me want to cry. I didn’t think I would ever meet anyone who would look at me like this, that would make me feel like this, I-”

And then Sanghyuk felt it, as gentle as a breeze, presenting delicately to his senses, the magic swirling around Wonsik and embracing him after, joining his own. He couldn’t stop the smile that grew on his lips the moment he knew Wonsik had realized his own feelings too.

Wonsik stopped talking when he saw the other’s smile just as he felt the pull for the first time, like the younger knew it had happened. “Hyuk, I love you too, I love you so much, I want to be with you forever, I want to adopt a dog and name it Butt with you, I want to share my life with you,” Sanghyuk’s smile grew wider and Wonsik was smiling back at him, “I want to know everything about you, I want to be by your side to help you through anything life throws at you, I want to let this feeling grow as much as it can, I love you, I love you.”

Sanghyuk chuckled, watching how desperate the other was. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

The younger leaned away from the couch, lacing both arms around the small of Wonsik’s waist as he kissed him. It was different from the kisses they had shared before, the pull made it unique, almost helped you read how the other wanted you to move.

Wonsik felt Sanghyuk smiling against his lips and pulled apart. “What?”

“You had the first kiss, but the first I love you was mine.”

Wonsik huffed out a laugh. “You’re getting competitive about this.”

Sanghyuk leaned back on the couch, pulling Wonsik to fall on top of him. “I am.” He pecked the other’s neck, who got stuck between an embarrassed snort and a giggle.

“Well, so am I, the next first will me mine.” Sanghyuk raised his brow as he looked up at him, doubting. “Shut up,” Wonsik said and ducked down to kiss him again.

Sanghyuk slid his hands under Wonsik’s shirt and felt him shivering when his nails began to trail up and down his back. The older got goosebumps all over his body, biting Sanghyuk’s lip in approval as intensified the pace of the kiss. The blue-haired moved his hands to the other’s hips and pulled it gently against his own so they would be closer, but ended up getting a low moan in his mouth in response.

Wonsik gasped in embarrassment and Sanghyuk felt all the hairs behind his neck stand up at the sound, desire bursting in the space of a second. The younger raised his hips daringly and once again the older moaned into his mouth, but that time Sanghyuk felt desire flowing from Wonsik to him, the magic thicker and heavier. Before either of them knew it, they were lying on the couch, bodies glued together as Wonsik made sure to pull Sanghyuk the closest he could.

It escalated naturally, both getting the other’s silent approval before they moved to the next step. Between kisses and gasps, Wonsik felt the other pulling his shirt. His heart skipped a beat knowing what they were walking towards. Another first.

Wonsik didn’t think twice before he leaned away from the couch and let Sanghyuk pull the shirt off his body, timid eyes avoiding contact, but his head being guided up by a gentle hand on his chin, fiery lips finding his a moment after. The kiss was passionate, Wonsik curling his fingers on the blue strands eagerly and feeling his heart beating so fast in his chest it was like it would jump out. Wonsik sewed his eyes firmly shut as he pulled Sanghyuk’s shirt up, not brave enough to look in his eyes, but not able to hold off his need to feel the other’s skin on his own any longer.

Sanghyuk smiled a the way the other wasn’t as bold to look at him in the eye, but his back was almost arching from the cushions, wanting to have the younger’s weight on top of him again.

Sanghyuk bit his lip, tracing the lines of the other’s stomach with his fingers, getting Wonsik to look at him. He didn’t have time to feel exposed, because Sanghyuk was shirtless on top of him, looking at his body like he’d never seen anything as beautiful, like he was a masterpiece.

“Come here, Hyuk,” Wonsik whispered, reaching his arm and cupping the other’s nape, their lips locking again a second after. Sanghyuk’s skin was warm against his, their chests flush and Wonsik had to hold himself from making another embarrassing sound just from the lust he felt right then. Sanghyuk, however, could feel it all through their bond, and it was making him lose all the control he thought he had.

Wonsik could feel Sanghyuk’s hardness on his thigh and he dared to slip his hand down the other’s back until he held his butt, where he squeezed and pulled Sanghyuk’s hips against his, rubbing their erections.

The younger whimpered into his mouth at the friction and reached for his hand, pulling them towards the bed. Wonsik and Sanghyuk got up slowly, kissing and touching each other as their instincts told them to, not pulling away for a second. The red-haired felt Sanghyuk lace his arm around his back so he could place him delicately on the bed and Wonsik chuckled in his mouth, touched by his care.

Sanghyuk had never felt so complete, Wonsik’s pace matched his perfectly, he could read the other’s energy like it was his own, and he was ecstatic to feel he wanted him back in the same intensity.

The older laid down and Sanghyuk hovered on top of him, tongue swirling on his neck, his ear, his collarbone or anywhere else it could reach, Wonsik jolting and gasping in his arms every time he did so. There were anxious fingers curling up on Sanghyuk’s hair and he smiled as he caught Wonsik’s lips on his again.

The blue-haired placed a cautious hand on his soulmate’s chest, moving it down slowly as they kissed, feeling every corner of it he could. When it reached the button of the other’s jeans he stopped, circling it with his finger.

“Can I take this off?” Sanghyuk parted their lips for a moment.

“Yes,” Wonsik whispered and pulled the blue-haired back down, breath catching when he felt Sanghyuk popping the button open.

Sanghyuk pulled the other’s pants off with his help, between smiles and chuckled, and before he knew it, Wonsik was trying to unbutton his own too. The younger felt nervousness flowing through their bond for the first time when Wonsik’s hands were holding the fabric of his jeans, so he took it off himself to ease the other’s mind of the responsibility.

To Sanghyuk’s surprise, the worry remained there, nudging at his senses, so he broke the kiss. “Are you okay?” he asked, Wonsik opened his eyes and nodded, grabbing his face again and drowning him in another ardent kiss.

The younger assumed his soulmate was nervous about where they were heading to, probably because he was very shy, but Wonsik’s eager lips and hips grinding against his own made it clear he wanted him too, so he cast aside what he felt and focused on what he was doing.

The blue haired’s hand started to drop lower and he stopped for a moment, fingers playing with the waistband of his underwear, teasingly slipping in just a bit.

“You can take this off too,” Wonsik said like was able to read Sanghyuk just as well as the younger could read him.

Wonsik raised his hips from the mattress and Sanghyuk did just what the other said, throwing the underwear aside. His hands found Wonsik’s length immediately and his soulmate whimpered into his mouth when he slid his thumb over the slit, smearing the precum on the tip. The older gasped and Sanghyuk felt him relaxing again, washed over by pleasure as he began to move his hand.

Sanghyuk began slowly, listening to the bond and Wonsik’s energy to know how he wanted him to move, speeding up slightly and getting the red-haired to gasp again and again into his mouth, not able to kiss him back. The younger’s mouth went down to kiss his neck, overwhelming Wonsik, who couldn’t hold back his moans anymore.

The older felt himself falling apart under Sanghyuk’s gentle touch, the warm tongue on his neck, the lavender scent coming from his skin and he was eager to have him too, to taste him. Wonsik brought his hand down and held the other’s, stopping his movements. He pushed Sanghyuk on his back and kissed his plump lips, starting to leave a trail of kisses down his body after, the younger purring under his touch. Wonsik’s mouth found the other’s nipple and Sanghyuk looked down to watch him, the sight of his pink tongue playing with it making his cock twitch in his underwear.

Wonsik was too shy to look up at his face, but he could listen perfectly when Sanghyuk’s breath hitched as his mouth kept going down, reaching the space between his legs. Wonsik slid his underwear off and Sanghyuk once again felt hypnotized by the other’s movements, not holding back a moan when he saw the other’s tongue again, that time licking the dripping precum off his tip. Wonsik placed his mouth around the entire head after and Sanghyuk’s mind fogged, fingers curling on the sheets as he moaned again, holding himself from moving his hips as the red-haired started to take his entire length in, pace not too slow or too fast, perfect.

Wonsik placed his tongue flat on the side of his length and began to take him deep, Sanghyuk’s hand moving from the sheets to his hair, fingers tangling softly. The older let his soulmate take control immediately, in a moment of boldness managing to glace up, seeing Sanghyuk had his head thrown back, lips set apart as he panted and moaned lowly. Wonsik watched him and gained confidence from the way his movements, natural and instinctive, were enough to make Sanghyuk crumble.

“Wonsik-” the name escaped Sanghyuk’s lips and the older hummed around his soulmate’s length, sending another wave of pleasure through his body from the vibration. “Sik- that feels so good, you’re so good-” he whispered and Wonsik hummed again, making Sanghyuk moan.

Unexpectedly, Wonsik felt a hand on his chin, pulling his head up. The red-haired took him deep one last time before he let himself be guided up, pecking his soulmate’s dry lips gently. “What? Did I hurt you?”

Sanghyuk huffed out a laugh, cupping his face with his shaky hands. “No, my love.” Wonsik melted in his arms at the sweet nickname. “You were perfect. I just wanted to ask where the lube and condoms are.”

“Oh.” Wonsik bit his lip, not thinking about it too much before he reached for the drawer on the bedside table, taking the small bottle and condom out and handing it to his soulmate, passing on the responsibility.

“Come here,” Sanghyuk murmured putting Wonsik on his back, hovering over his body as they kissed.

Suddenly Sanghyuk could feel the bond loudly present again, the other’s nervousness mixed with his anticipation. Uneasiness mixed with his eagerness. He was nervous, very nervous.

The younger took one of Wonsik’s hands and intertwined their fingers, speaking with a soft voice as to soothe him, “If it hurts or you need me to slow, you can just squeeze my hand, okay?”

Wonsik nodded and Sanghyuk kissed him until the tension lowered a bit, until pleasure was louder than the tension. The younger positioned his finger in the other’s entrance and pushed it in after, not leaving the other’s lips for a moment. For a first finger, it didn’t slide as smoothly as he hoped for.

The bond screamed at him, stress, worry.

“Love, I can tell you’re nervous. Do you want to stop?” Sanghyuk spoke softly, sincerely.

Wonsik gasped when his soulmate moved the finger inside of him, clenching around him. “N-no.”

Sanghyuk pecked his lips. “Okay then, relax a bit.”

The younger positioned and pushed the second finger in, once again with immense resistance and before he could move it Wonsik squeezed his hand, telling him to slow down.

Sanghyuk stopped immediately, parting their lips yet again. “Sik, you’re nervous, love. Let’s slow down a bit, it’s okay.” He placed a gentle kiss on the other’s cheek, pulling his fingers off with the intent of having more foreplay so Wonsik could relax, it was obvious he was not enjoying it.

Wonsik whimpered as soon as the younger’s fingers left him and Sanghyuk noticed it was from pain. The younger frowned when the bond showed anxiety that time, self-consciousness. Fear? Sanghyuk felt beyond confused, had he done something wrong? Wonsik seemed afraid of him and it made him feel like his stomach was filled with ice.

“We don’t have to keep going, it’s okay if you don’t want this now.” The older watched his soulmate’s expression turn to worry.

Wonsik frowned. Sanghyuk thought he didn’t want him, when that was not the case at all. The red-haired bit his lip, he hoped to avoid this subject, but his body was showing its limits and he knew it was time to tell his soulmate what was going on.

“I need to tell you something.” Sanghyuk nodded, encouraging. “I- In the restaurant, you told me all about our trees-” Wonsik felt his face heat up as the words left his mouth. “T-The blossoms in the mark, Hyuk, you joked about it, but-” He swallowed dry.

Sanghyuk’s mouth went wide and Wonsik watched the realization dawn on his face, like everything suddenly made sense.

“You’re a virgin?” Sanghyuk blinked repeatedly, he’d joked about it before and Wonsik had blushed, but he had no idea it was actually true. He felt like an idiot.

“I’ve done many things-” Wonsik stopped himself from finishing the sentence, starting again to hopefully get some acceptable. “I’ve never gotten _this_ far with anyone before, I wanted it to be with someone I trusted and it just never happened.”

Sanghyuk understood why the other had been so tense and quite honestly, felt better when he realized he hadn’t done anything wrong. That’s why he was so nervous, he was holding back, he felt like he had a secret.  
  
Sanghyuk smiled and brushed his soulmate’s cheek with his thumb. “Do you trust me?” The other nodded. “So- do you want to keep going?” Wonsik nodded again, blushing, he really did. “Okay.” Sanghyuk sighed, pecking his lips. “I’ll take care of you. If you change your mind at any moment you tell me and I’ll stop immediately, I promise.”

Wonsik felt at ease at the other’s words, seeing the sincerity in his soulmate’s eyes. By telling Sanghyuk he’d removed a huge weight off his shoulders, the fear of looking inexperienced, the fear of being judged, the fear of hurting or even bleeding. Sanghyuk knew now, he would take care of him, he had promised.

The younger took his hand once again, intertwining their fingers just like he’d done before, so Wonsik would feel safer. Sanghyuk wet his others fingers again, massaging it around Wonsik’s entrance first before he pushed in. True to his promise, the younger kept it slow, moving his finger in the same calm pace as he moved his lips against his soulmate’s. He had no rush anymore, Wonsik found nothing like eagerness in the other’s movements, only patience and tenderness, Sanghyuk wanted the red-haired to feel safe.

After a few minutes, Wonsik started to relax around him and make sounds of approval, so Sanghyuk positioned his second finger on his entrance, murmuring against his lips. “Still okay?”

“Still okay,” Wonsik breathed out.

It was nothing like the first time, the second finger slipped in easy and the younger could tell the whimper that left the other’s mouth as he scissored them in came from pleasure. Just by telling why he had been holding back was enough to make Wonsik relax, seeing how Sanghyuk turned extra careful, loving, kissing him romantically, drawing reassuring circles on his hand with his thumb and assessing his every movement so he could figure it out how to make him feel good.

Wonsik started to moan lowly and rhythmically into his soulmate’s mouth as his fingers curled inside sim and Sanghyuk felt himself getting painfully hard again, knowing soon enough Wonsik would be moaning with the friction of his length inside him.

Sanghyuk worked the third and fourth fingers in carefully, taking as long as he felt was necessary and by the end of it Wonsik was gasping and sweating under him, completely relaxed and pushing down at his hand, lips parted and nails digging on his skin wanting more.

“You’re so beautiful,” Sanghyuk murmured, sweat covering his own forehead. “I’m so lucky.”

Wonsik couldn’t answer, because the younger curled his fingers and he felt like screaming from so much pleasure, moaning between a gasp and throwing his head back.

“You’re beautiful, Wonsik, so beautiful,” he repeated and with the movement of his fingers, the older felt he couldn’t handle it anymore.

“H-Hyuk, I’m ready.”

Sanghyuk placed a kiss on his chest, looking up. “Are you sure?”

Wonsik looked down at his round eyes, swollen lips brushing against skin, he wanted him so much it was starting to hurt. “Yes, my god, yes.”

When Sanghyuk kissed Wonsik and began to take his fingers off he was taken aback by a new feeling swelling rapidly in their bond. The younger delved into it immediately, checking if it was nervousness, if he was hurt, if he wanted to stop. To his relief, it wasn’t much of a feeling as it was a plea, a desperate urge to have more.

Sanghyuk’s chest tightened and he just wished to give Wonsik everything, to be everything he needed. He hurried, settling between the other’s legs and lowered his face to kiss the inner part of his thigh. When he looked up he was surprised to see Wonsik was looking down at him, eyes showing no sign of leaving, holding his gaze as his mouth left a trail of kisses and bites on the smooth skin.

The younger slid in the condom and positioned himself, Wonsik’s eyes still glued to his, mouth gaped and letting out sweet low moans as he began to push in. Sanghyuk’s heart raced so much he could feel himself starting to pant, white sparks flashing in his eyes, overwhelmed by how his feelings were joining Wonsik’s through the bond and all they couldn’t think about was how much they wanted each other.

“Are you okay?” Sanghyuk managed to focus for just a moment.

“I’m- fine.”

“Does it feel good?” Sanghyuk asked, partially worried, partially because he wanted to hear Wonsik say it.

“Yes, it does.” Wonsik almost whined and Sanghyuk bit his lip when he slid in further and Wonsik threw his head back, letting a loud moan past his dry lips.

Wonsik didn’t expect to feel that good, the pain couldn’t compare to the amount of pleasure he was getting, Sanghyuk’s eyes on his body, throbbing inside of him, the magic of their bond making them feel as if they were one. Sanghyuk looked at the one under him with a mix of wanting to eat him alive and kiss every part of his body lovingly, not knowing how much was coming from him and how much was Wonsik’s.

Wonsik let out a long breath when Sanghyuk’s hips met his for the first time, flush, full. The younger stayed still as he kissed the other gently, breaking apart the just so he could start whispering reassuring words at his ear.

“You’re beautiful, I love you.” Wonsik’s heart skipped a beat, he didn’t know if he would ever get used to that. “You feel so amazing, Sik, you have no idea.”

Wonsik hummed at the warm breath on his ear, at how Sanghyuk’s voice sounded saying the words. “You can move.”

Sanghyuk didn’t wait another second, watching Wonsik arch his back when he pulled out and pushed the entire length in one slow stroke, moaning what he thought was his name. He did it again.

“Hyuk-” The sound came broken through his lips, through a whisper and the younger had never felt so in love.

Sanghyuk started thrusting slowly, but the other’s moaning pushed him to go faster, Wonsik’s hands finding his hips and together, finding their rhythm. It was a matter of time before they started to hear the other losing themselves, blissed out by the slide of their skins together, kissing messily.

The younger buried his head on Wonsik’s shoulder to keep himself from moaning too loud, but the salty taste of sweat between his parted lips as he gasped aroused him even more. It was too much, Sanghyuk curled his fingers around his soulmate’s hair, the magic of the pull almost palpable around him, coming together everywhere they touched, his eyes fluttered shut and the younger moaned against the other’s skin.

“Let me kiss you,” Wonsik said between short breaths. Sanghyuk raised his head and Wonsik could see how wrecked he was, face all red, blue hair rattled and sticking to his forehead, the older brushed their lips together. “I love you- I love you.”

Sanghyuk whimpered and let himself be kissed, arms starting to fail him, he felt so far gone it was insane. The red-haired noticed his effort and pushed him gently, getting on top with not much of a struggle. He was not confident enough to properly sit and ride on Sanghyuk, but he let his weight fall on top of his soulmate as he took the rhythm, mouths brushing but not kissing, the noises that fell from either side humming on the other’s lips.

Sanghyuk’s hands trailed up and down the curve of his arched back, watching his glazed eyes. “Sanghyuk,” the older moaned unexpectedly and his soulmate almost came from hearing his name being called that way. “I’m- so close, mon chéri.”

“Untouched?” Sanghyuk asked surprisedly, Wonsik nodded.

Sanghyuk’s hands went from the other’s back to his hair, fingers gliding on the wet skin. “So come for me, my love,” he said as their lips brushed.

Wonsik kissed him and let himself go, the pace quickening, his moans slipping into the other’s mouth before he could stop them. Sanghyuk was the only thought in his head, his scent, his warmth, his hand squeezing his hips, his voice whispering sweet nothings into his ear. Wonsik came moments after, head buried in the other’s neck, shaking and breathless.

The older noticed Sanghyuk’s hands were keeping him moving through the orgasm, riding, but very slowly. When Wonsik raised his head he found his soulmate’s lips were dry, hair sticking to his forehead, blinking slowly, lazily.

“Did you-?” his voice rumbled, tired.

Sanghyuk huffed out a small laugh. “With you screaming my name like that in my ear? I didn’t have much of a choice.”

Wonsik smiled shyly, starting to come back to normal. Sanghyuk held his face and kissed him gently.

“That was-” Sanghyuk looked for a word, but none seemed fitting. “Intense.”

“Intense and good?”

Sanghyuk chuckled. “Intense and perfect.”

Wonsik sighed, relieved. “Thank god.”

Sanghyuk pulled out, holding the other’s hand and guiding him to the bathroom to shower together, it had been so exhaustingly slow paced it went on for a long time, leaving both drowning in sweat. The space was crowded for two very large men, but they held each other close and made it work.

“So- you’re winning our firsts competitions, you’re two for one,” Sanghyuk joked.

“I told you, I came here to win.” Wonsik chuckled, brushing his thumb over the other’s swollen lips, water running through them. “I’m- sorry I didn’t tell you before, I was afraid it would make it awkward if you knew.”

Sanghyuk frowned. “You shouldn’t be sorry, you didn’t have to tell me anything. I just feel sorry I made you hurt, my love.” Wonsik smiled at the nickname he seemed to have gained.

“Don’t, once you knew I could relax and it just felt good,” he reassured.

“Why did you wait so long? I know it had to be a choice.” Sanghyuk implied the other was, well, a lot.

The red-haired huffed out a laugh. “I’ve always felt very strongly about sex, I thought it should come as a result of love. Like, I have absolutely no problem with people who chose to have sex and experience a lot before they mark or get serious with someone, but that’s just not me, I was never comfortable with the idea of giving myself to anyone before-” Wonsik watched the little smile trying to grow on the other’s lips. “You think I’m a prude,” he accused.

Sanghyuk laughed and cupped his cheek, shaking his head. “No, not at all. I think you’re very romantic and that’s beautiful. Sex is something very intimate, you’re giving yourself completely, I could feel we were trading energy, it’s fine to not want to do that with just anyone.”

Wonsik chuckled, washing the shampoo off his hair. The bubbles at their feet had faint shades of red and blue, merging into purple before going down the drain. “I love the way you’re so into this stuff, it’s like you’re one of those people who have gifts and can read the stars for real or manipulate people’s memories-” Sanghyuk avoided the other’s eyes and bit his lip, Wonsik’s eyes widened and his hands fell from his hair. “No way- oh my g- you’re gifted?”

Sanghyuk hesitated. “I wouldn’t call it a gift.”

Wonsik startled the other with the sudden rise of his voice. “Oh my god! Are you serious? Are you messing with me or do you actually have magic?”

“I do- is that a problem for you?” he asked filled with uneasiness, the red-haired frowned.

“Are you kidding me? I’ve only met a couple of gifted people before, I think that’s amazing! You really are my Sabrina! What can you do?” The younger chuckled at the other’s honest childlike enthusiastic reaction, made him feel less insecure.

“I have a lot, actually.” Wonsik gasped in excitement, his soulmate held in a smile. “I’ve been sensitive to energy and emotion ever since I was born, but it’s extremely selective. I can only make sense of someone’s soul if we know each other to some extent, the closer we are, the stronger I can feel it. Stranger’s energies exist more like a whisper in the background to me. For you, I could feel all of your nervousness earlier, I could tell the exact moment you got the pull today too.”

“That’s why you smiled at me that way,” Wonsik remembered with fondness.

Sanghyuk nodded. “Even though we don’t know each other for that long, the marking makes the connection more intense, our bond allows me to feel everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“When you’re around me you open up, you let me in without even knowing, it’s like you allow me access.” Sanghyuk kissed his cheek, as if he was thanking him for the trust.

“Ah.” Wonsik nodded understanding, almost non-blinking. “What else?”

“Same goes for objects of people I have a connection with, if they are really attached to something it’s like their aura rubs in it, it’s marked, I can tell. Like your father’s watch or the mug you used earlier to drink tea. They may seem like simple objects, but I know they have some sort of meaning to you.”

Wonsik’s eyes sparkled, his mouth dropped again, that was true. “That’s incredible. Why did you say they weren’t gifts?”

Sanghyuk got his head under the warm water. “Because those are the nice ones, the ones I’ve had ever since I was born, but the new one- I don’t understand it yet.” He twisted his nose.

Wonsik noticed, masking a comforting touch as a help to rinse the other’s hair. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Sanghyuk smiled, feeling the calming fingers on his head. “It’s fine. It’s related to my dreams, I have visions- sort of.”

“Of things that really happen?” The younger nodded. “That sounds amazing, though. Why does it seem like you don’t like it?”

Sanghyuk chuckled dryly. “I don’t see nice things, Sik. I see dark things, bad things.”

“And they happen?”

Sanghyuk nodded, taking a deep breath. “Something really bad happened to Jae once, really _really_ bad, and I had to see it months before it happened- every single night. It was absolute torture for me, when the time came I was so guilty, Sik, so guilty I couldn’t protect him.”

Wonsik felt curious to know what had happened, but if Sanghyuk wanted to tell him, he would have had. “Oh, mon chéri, I’m sorry. Couldn’t you intervene and like- stop it?”

Sanghyuk wished there was a way to escape the other’s gaze, but they were standing too close. “I don’t see everything that happened in real life, I feel what the person in the vision feels. Jae was- overdosing-” He chose the closest word he could, knowing it could mean a lot of things, including the truth. “In the vision, I was drowning, cold, afraid and alone, that’s what he felt like at the time. Since I couldn’t predict what would bring those emotions on him, I had no way to stop it.”

Wonsik laced his arms around the other’s back and stroked it, feeling their mark tickling his fingers. “Are they always bad?” Sanghyuk nodded, Wonsik sighed. “Are you seeing any vision right now?” Sanghyuk nodded, feeling his throat tightening at the thought of it. Taekwoon dying in his arms.

Wonsik saw the distress on the other’s face and put a hand on his chin, lifting his face so he could place a gentle kiss on his lips.

“We don’t have to talk about that anymore, we could talk about how it started. Why do you have so many gifts, do you come from a gifted bloodline?”

Sanghyuk shook his head no. “My parents were soulbonded.”

Wonsik gasped again, making the younger chuckle. The older found himself torn between his curiosity and fear of hurting Sanghyuk with a rude question. The younger felt it.

“I don’t mind talking about mom and dad, you can ask,” Sanghyuk said and Wonsik would have kept his mouth open for longer, but there was water getting in it.

“What could they do?” Wonsik asked, eyes full of curiosity.

“They could speak into each other’s heads even if they were very far away, mom could send dad memories or images if they were touching, they could feel each other’s emotions completely if they touched too.” He knew there were more, but it was a very long time ago.

“And were they hopelessly in love like the soulbonded people in the movies?”

“Oh yeah, ridiculously in love. Dad would recite poems in mom’s head in the middle of work, oh, there’s this one ridiculous story-” Sanghyuk chuckled and Wonsik relaxed when he saw the younger was actually happy remembering it. “So, mom was finishing up one of the most important cases in her career, dad was watching from the audience. Right when she turns to make the final speech dad whispered a suggestion in her head of what to say, so she turns to the judge and instead of calling him Your Honour she literally called him honey, dad’s nickname.”

Wonsik laughed. “Oh my god.”

“Yeah, I heard this story many many times, they would call each other Your Honour sometimes. It was their favorite gift from the bond.” Sanghyuk remembered, them having breakfast together, his father bowing as he playfully teased his wife.

“Did she win the case?”

Sanghyuk snorted. “Of course, my mom was awesome.”

Wonsik smiled. “I bet she was, she made you. So- child of a soulbond, you get more incredible the more I know you, my Sabrina.” The younger chuckled and was kissed again, a delicate hand holding his face, another stroking his hair, showering him with love.

“Does that mean you don’t have a crazy ex?” Sanghyuk brought back the previous subject.

Wonsik chuckled. “I’ve never officially dated anyone seriously before you, so no ex at all.”

A smile grew on his lips. “So- we’re officially dating?”

Wonsik was glad the warm water would hide his flush, cursing his own tongue. “I mean, if you want to-”

Sanghyuk pouted, arms falling from around Wonsik. “That’s not right.” The older’s stomach dropped, but his soulmate took his hand and brought it to his lips, setting a wet kiss. “I need an official question. Kim Wonsik, will you be my boyfriend?”

Wonsik pushed his chest. “Don’t do that, Jesus- Yes, Hyuk, I will be your boyfriend.”

Sanghyuk chuckled, kissing his lips again. When they parted Wonsik left the shower, his soulmate right behind him with a wide playful smile crawling up his lips.

Wonsik raised his brow. “What? I don’t trust that face.”

“First one to make it official, we’re two for two.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i love them........ so much.........


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good luck with this one

Hakyeon had never thought he would be terrified at a sound as simple as a knock on the door before. As he stood frozen, eyes widened and staring at the entrance door, he found out he was very wrong. The three knocks repeated themselves and suddenly Hongbin appeared next to him, as if out of thin air. They exchanged panicked looks.

No one knocked there, it was rule number one. Everyone had their own keys and could come and go as they wished, preferably entering quietly and discreetly to avoid calling attention from the neighborhood outside.

No knocking. Knocking meant someone that wasn’t a part of the group was there.

“Hey, is anyone home?” an unknown voice asked from outside. Hakyeon’s heart jumped and started to beat worryingly fast in his chest. “Sorry, my son threw a ball and I think it went into your garden.”

Hakyeon and Hongbin felt at loss of what to do, too shocked to know what was the right reaction to have, the two most inexperienced in that place. The younger was the first to snap back into reality, trying to think about how to solve the situation. Was that a trap? Should he open the door?

“Hello?” the voice called again and Hongbin decided to answer.

He took a deep breath and a step forward, hand going for the door handle. Hakyeon panicked instantly and held his arm, looking him in the eyes. “What are you doing?”

Hongbin fell back into panic instantly, as if Hakyeon was his parent and he was a lost child. “I don’t know.”

Hakyeon slid his hand down Hongbin’s arm and pulled the younger’s hand back. “Don’t do it.”

There was shuffling behind them and out of the hallway, YJ appeared holding, lo and behold, a ball. YJ glanced down and frowned deeply when he saw Hakyeon’s hand wrapped around Hongbin’s wrist, unpleased with it.

Hongbin was about to ask what was YJ doing, but couldn’t even take in a breath to complain before he pushed him roughly towards the wall behind the door and turned to Hakyeon, who was a breath away from having a panic-induced fit.

“Hello, is anyone home?” the woman asked again.

“Just a moment!” YJ screamed at the door and Hakyeon was pretty sure he had a heart attack. “Follow my lead, gorgeous.” The older could see he was smiling, but had no time to answer before, once again, he did something reckless.

It all happened very fast, YJ’s arm wrapping around the small of his waist, his other hand turning the key and unlocking the door, him pulling it open and suddenly Hakyeon was staring at an unknown woman and a child having a meltdown, latched at her leg like it was his lifeline. Hakyeon pursued his lips to keep himself from gasping, but he was sure his eyes were very wide.

“Oh, hello, I’m so sorry to just come knocking like this out of nowhere.” She smiled to the men in front of her and YJ smiled in return, but Hakyeon just stared, not able to even form words, let alone say them.

“Not at all, it’s fine, we were just painting some walls, right, honey?” YJ squeezed his hand on Hakyeon’s waist and he was forced to react, holding the urge to slap the other’s smug face for being that bold. _Honey?_

“Y-Yes, it’s absolutely fine, don’t worry.” Hakyeon tried his best to smile and the woman found herself so distracted by how beautiful the pilot was she didn’t notice him shuttering.

“We took a while because I went to grab the ball, I’m sorry, here it is,” YJ offered and the woman sighed in relief, blushing slightly when she noticed she had been staring at Hakyeon.

“Oh, thank god, Jeno would cry all night if we couldn’t find it.” She took the ball gently from the younger’s hand and looked down at her son. “Darling,” she patted the little boy’s head, who had been too busy crying with his face buried in his mother’s jeans till then to notice anything around him, “Jeno, baby.” He glanced up, his puffy eyes finding the ball immediately and he gasped, suddenly excited. “Told you mommy would get it back.”

The little boy stumbled back and raised both of his little arms up, trying to reach it, pushing up on his toes. His mother chuckled, watching as he took it, wrapped his arms around it and hugged it like it was a beloved friend, eyes tightly shut.

“Thank you, mommy,” Jeno murmured, enjoying the reunion with his precious ball.

Hakyeon distracted himself from his sweaty hands and nervous heart as he watched the little boy, cooing before he could help it, he loved kids. The mother smiled at his sweet gaze.

“Do you have your own yet?” she asked after seeing Hakyeon’s affectionate eyes, brushing her hand lovingly through her son’s hair.

Hakyeon took a moment to understand the question, but YJ curling his fingers on the curve of his waist to pull their bodies even closer together made it clear where she had gotten the impression from.

“No, not yet, we’re hoping to hear from the adoption agency soon.” Hakyeon shot YJ a glare, but he was too caught up in his theatrics to notice, hand up as he held his fingers crossed. He couldn’t keep the grin off his face, living his literal fantasy, and Hakyeon felt like slapping him even more.

“That’s lovely, I’m happy for you.” Hakyeon turned his head back to the woman, face tender as she showed approval of the couple. He frowned, wanting to clear the matter up, but biting his own tongue before he actually did it. “You said you were painting the walls, are you moving in soon?”

“In a few months, we’re just so excited we wanted to start doing things already.” YJ squeezed his fingers and Hakyeon found himself fighting the urge to peel his intruding hand away. What a nerve he had to pull that act off.

“Great, make sure to go to ours when you do, we live in the first house down the street. My husband and I would love to have you for dinner, welcome you two to the neighborhood.” She smiled again.

“Oh, we would love that!” YJ said excitedly, the hand squeezing again and Hakyeon was about to curse him all the way to hell and back, his own hand itching for some slaps. “As soon as we move we’ll tell you.”

“Perfect! My name is Mihyun, I didn’t catch yours.” She looked at Hakyeon first and he panicked again.

Name. He obviously couldn’t use his real one, but the name he used at the house was N, he couldn’t say that too, no one was called N. Hakyeon’s rushed to think of a name that started with N, but to his dismay, nothing came to his mind.

“My name is Nile,” Hakyeon blurted out the first thing that he could think of, the Nile River from the Africa documentary Taekwoon had forced him to watch earlier.

YJ cracked a smile, obviously amused by his choice, Hakyeon didn’t understand why. “My name is Yohan.”

Mihyun smiled. “Okay, Nile and Yohan, we’ll wait for you guys. Thank you for being so kind, I know it was inconvenient.”

YJ shook his head. “Not at all, you didn’t get in the way of anything, it’s absolutely fine.”

“Very well, say bye and thank you, Jeno,” the woman addressed her son, fondling his hair again.

“Bye and thank you, Jeno,” the boy parroted and Hakyeon huffed out a laugh, managing to wave goodbye before they left.

YJ closed the door and Hakyeon breathed out more air than he ever knew he could hold in, resting his forehead in the cold wood surface. “Oh my gosh,” he murmured, closing his eyes.

A million thoughts had crossed Hakyeon’s mind as he first heard the knockings, the police having found them, some enemies having found them, some innocent person having found them and getting killed for it. All because YJ didn’t give him a second to think before he took the lead to solve everything, before he slid his unauthorized hand on his waist and made them into an imaginary couple.

Hakyeon opened his eyes. At least the touch that had made him uncomfortable was not on his waist anymore. Because YJ had moved his hand to down his hip, where his fingers were resting comfortably, like they were that intimate. “You did well, gorgeous,” the whisper came close to his ear.

The older glanced to the side and saw a couch cushion right next to Hongbin, pushing the younger aside with a single hand and grabbing it, turning to YJ. Hakyeon swung the cushion full force at his face, then at his chest, then at his hip, not caring that people were coming out of their rooms and watching them with confused eyes.

“Don’t- do- that- ever- again,” Hakyeon said between hits, feeling winded by the end of it, face red.

“What did he do?” Jongup asked. All YJ had told him was there was someone on the door and they should stay in until he tricked her into leaving.

Hakyeon frowned again, remembering. YJ took a step back laughing, positively glowing with happiness. “I didn’t do anything, I made her leave, gorgeous, why are you mad?”

Hakyeon growled, raising the cushion and YJ ran to hide behind Aka, afraid to get hit again. The pilot sighed, trying to calm himself, he had to remember where they were, who they were. They were spending so much time together the thought sometimes slipped his mind. He had told YJ to fuck himself more times than he could count and the younger would always laugh it off, but Taekwoon and Jaehwan would always reprimand him with looks.

“My waist, my hips and everything else associated with me is off limits to your sticky hands, hear me? I _will_ smother you to death.” Hakyeon grunted, but YJ just found him adorable.

Jaehwan frowned, glaring at YJ, the thought of him getting his hands on Hakyeon surprisingly upsetting. “For fuck's sake, YJ, what’s wrong with you?” the hitman spoke before he could stop himself, turning his eyes.

“Geez! It was just a hand to the waist, relax! Have you and Leo adopted him or something? I did what I had to make the story believable,” YJ defended himself, Jongup huffed out a laugh and slapped his friend’s shoulder.

At that moment there were keys to the door and everyone went silent, Hakyeon squeezed the cushion and almost whined, way too stressed that night to handle yet another problem.

The door opened and Himchan, Bang and Taekwoon stood confusedly at the unusual reception, the ones in the room letting a collective sigh of relief when they saw they had returned.

“What’s going on?” Bang asked, frowning. Taekwoon was the first to get in and Himchan remembered they also should, pushing his friend in gently and closing the door so no one passing by could see what was happening.

“Someone knocked on the door,” Hongbin summed up.

Bang’s eyes widened. “What? Put in more detail, Hongbin, why is everyone here?” The thought of that reunion being about them discussing how to get rid of a body crossing his mind.

“Okay. Someone knocked on the door, YJ forced N into a tricky situation to solve it and now N is teaching YJ some basic manners as we all watch,” Hongbin explained with a sarcastic tone, YJ frowned at the criticism.

Taekwoon shot a confused glance at his soulmate, who just shook his head and threw the cushion back on the couch, he would explain later.

“Who came here?” Himchan seemed worried.

“It was just a mom that lives down the street, I don’t know why her kid was playing next to our house or how he was strong enough to kick the ball over the huge fence, but it went into our garden.” YJ stepped out from behind Aka after he saw Hakyeon didn’t have a weapon to hit him with anymore.

“Did she suspect anything?” Taekwoon asked, walking to stand beside his partner, who had his thick brows furrowed angrily.

“No, because I’m a terrific actor and gorgeous and I make a very beautiful couple.”

“YJ, I swear to god,” Hakyeon threatened, going to grab the cushion again. The other Himeji in the room laughed at the younger’s forwardness.

“You pretended to be a couple?” Taekwoon asked, surprisingly calm. YJ nodded, beaming, proud of himself.

“How did he trick you into accepting this, N?” Bang seemed amused.

Aka and Jongup burst into laughter, YJ pouted. “I didn’t trick him into anything, we worked together on this.”

Hakyeon snorted. “He didn’t give me any processing time, literally pushed Hongbin out of the way, grabbed me and opened the door, I just rolled with it so we wouldn’t get caught.”

“Of course he did.” Bang brought his hand to his face and sighed deeply, like a tired father who had just heard about another problem his naughty kid had caused. “She really didn’t suspect anything?”

“No, she didn’t, don’t worry. She does want to have us over for dinner so we can talk about the kids we’re adopting, though!” Hakyeon said ironically, turning his eyes disapprovingly.

Jongup snorted, looking at his best friend. “You said you were adopting?” he asked, knowing there was no way that had been N’s idea.

“Just like we will one day.” YJ shrugged his shoulders.

Taekwoon raised his brow, Jaehwan turned his eyes in annoyance. It surprised the younger how relaxed his partner seemed to be when he felt like punching YJ for being such an ass.

“Sorry, you’re not my type.” Hakyeon ran a hand through his hair, fixing the mess it became after his YJ-beatdown-session.

YJ gasped, placing a hand on his chest. “What?”

Taekwoon snorted. That’s why he wasn’t the least worried about YJ making a move, Hakyeon knew how to crush petty men. “Sorry, _gorgeous,_ ” he finished ironically and it was Jaehwan’s time to hold back a snort.

YJ sulked, hurt. “Who is your type then? Someone like Hongbin or Himchan? Because that’s just ridiculous.”

Hongbin frowned when his name came up. “Excuse me? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re runway handsome, Hongbin, it’s not fair to compare you to anyone.” YJ shot back with an annoyed tone, turning his eyes.

Hongbin snorted, trying to use sarcasm to hide his embarrassment and his growingly warm cheeks. “You’re out of your mind, let’s stop talking and start working.”

Hongbin stood between Himchan and Bang, motioning with two fingers that Taekwoon should join them to discuss the matters they had left the house for. The older raised his brow when he saw Hongbin was calling him like he was a dog, walking teasingly (or pettily, depending on how you would look at it) slow to meet the rest of the group. Hongbin glared at him and satisfied, Taekwoon went back to his normal pace and joined the group, holding back a smile.

Once the others returned to their rooms Jaehwan found himself alone with a flirty YJ, who didn’t seem to accept rejection or actually care about it at all, and a very tolerant Hakyeon. The brown-haired kept murmuring a song to himself so hopefully, he wouldn’t end up pointing a gun to YJ’s head for being annoying with his constant compliments to Hakyeon. Yes, he was gorgeous and his smile was charming and his skin was glowy and his eyes- wait, had YJ said those things or did Jaehwan think of them on his own?

YJ gasped out of nowhere, interrupting his own previous monologue Hakyeon had been ignoring. “Oh my god, is Nile your type of guy? Is that why you said his name? Gorgeous, I assure you he is a vile human being, he gets off on torturing people that cross the gang, he’s no guy for you.”

“Huh?” Hakyeon hummed mindlessly, writing some numbers down on the room’s control notebook.

“Torture, he’s always responsible for questioning BAP’s rivals. He always gets what he wants out of people, bloody stuff.”

Hakyeon shivered, forcing the words out of his mouth. “Not following you, YJ, where are you getting at?”

“Nile, the name you used as a joke,” YJ reminded him, brow corked. “That’s the name of one of the BAP members. That’s why I said Yohan too, playing along with you and all.”

Hakyeon raised his eyes from the notebook, Jaehwan glanced back and forth between them. “Is Nile one of their names?” YJ nodded. “I didn’t know, it was a coincidence. I’ve never had any contact with anyone from BAP.”

YJ laughed. “Really? I thought you were joking, it was funny.”

Hakyeon avoided his eyes, shaking his head. “Coincidence, YJ, I don’t know BAP’s Nile or Yonan.”

“Yohan,” YJ corrected. “Made no sense for you to be into Nile too, he’s not that good looking.”

“You said he’s into torture, not my type at all,” Hakyeon said sarcastically.

YJ went on pressing Hakyeon about who was closest to his type and some related nonsense, but Jaehwan didn’t have to endure much of it before Taekwoon appeared at the door, annoyed himself at something else.

“Hongbin and Himchan are stubborn as fuck, I need you,” he whined and Jaehwan promptly stood up and followed his partner back to the living room, running away from YJ and his infuriating self.

When they got there Himchan and Hongbin had their arms crossed over their chest, looking at Bang and Aka as they debated something. Jaehwan sighed, every time he saw that expression on Hongbin’s face, it meant the younger had sent his mind on some idea and wouldn’t let go of it for anything.

“We are arguing over if we should smuggle it out by sea or by air,” Taekwoon filled Jaehwan in as briefly as he could.

“I thought we had voted on this already, the part that’s supposed to go to Wajima goes with Aka by sea, the one going to Komatsu goes with N by air,” Jaehwan said calmly, but tired of the same debate.

“Now Hongbin thinks it’s safer to do it all by air,” Taekwoon hissed, rolling his eyes at the younger.

Jaehwan quickly understood why his partner looked upset, that change would mean Hakyeon putting himself in danger more than the previous agreement, having to make two trips instead of one. “I think it’s best if we keep it the way we discussed.” he quickly took Taekwoon’s side.

“We’ve spoken with the guy today, Ken, he said the ports are strongly monitored now, we should maybe reconsider it,” Himchan insisted.

“Isn’t the whole reason why we’re going into the country by Wajima’s port because it’s safer? Less monitored? I think you’re stressing too much over this.” Jaehwan pointed out.

Taekwoon, Himchan and Bang had gone out earlier to meet a friend of Himchan’s who had successfully smuggled some drugs out of the country himself and had some tips to give, which planted some doubts into some of their heads and was starting to destroy their previous plan.

“Korea monitors the air heavily too and more than half of the trip would be over Korea, not Japan, it’s also a risk.” Bang took Leo and Ken’s side, to their relief.

The men stared at each other, exchanging strong and powerful looks, implying they wouldn’t stand down. It might have been easier to solve a problem with dialogue was the situation any different, but then they had two bosses on opposite sides, and they both seemed equally determined to have their way.

“I work with exporting, I know how everything works. I still think doing it _all_ by air is safer,” Hongbin insisted, looking like he had made up his mind and people should just give up and agree with him.

“Hongbin, this is not the work you usually do in your company. It’s not the same as working in the eyes of the law. I mean, I know we met underground, but you work mostly according to the law, don’t you?” The ironic tone on Leo’s voice made Hongbin turn to glare at him.

“I get what you’re implying and I don’t care, we value honesty in my company. My conscience is clean-” _Lie_ , Jaehwan could tell immediately from his body language. “And your opinion means little to nothing to me, so don’t bother.” _Lie again_ , the brow-haired raised his brow.

“Trafficking cocaine must have fitted right in with the rest of your honest agenda, then.” Taekwoon’s cat eyes sparkled with amusement, not seeming to care about the other’s offensive comment.

Hongbin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he wouldn’t fall for the other’s teasing, he seemed to do it just to get a reaction out of him.

When Hongbin opened his eyes he looked only at Bang, they worked together the most and he seemed to trust his decisions. “I’ll do some research before we change anything, I think it’s best that way. If we decide on changing only _then_ -” he glanced at Leo so he knew that part was about him, finishing with a smile to Bang, dimple showing on his cheek, “we open up to discussion with everyone else. After all, _we_ are the ones in charge.”

Bang chuckled, noticing the bickering. “Fine by me.”

Hongbin showed a bright confident smile. Getting his way was, after all, his favorite thing.

\--

Taekwoon had his arms around Hakyeon, chest flush to his back as his hands was around his soulmate’s. And around the gun he was holding.

“I can feel you’re holding your breath in, let it out,” Taekwoon murmured on the other’s ear, guiding his arms up. Hakyeon exhaled and relaxed his shoulders. “Now.”

Hakyeon pulled the trigger and sent the bullet flying to the empty vodka bottle on the other side, missing it. Again. The older sighed, frustrated.

“Better than last time, you got somewhere around it.” The younger lowered his arms from around his soulmate’s, patting his shoulder as reassurance.

“After doing this all morning I sure hope so,” the older sulked, he didn’t expect shooting to be that hard. “Show me again.”

Taekwoon smiled, reaching for the gun in Hakyeon’s hand. It felt different with the silencer on, but he couldn’t exactly have the neighbors hearing what they were doing. The younger did the same this he’d done before, legs open slightly, both hands on the grip so he could bring it to eye level, shoulders relaxed. He breathed in like he normally would and when he breathed out- shoot. The bullet went exactly where he wanted it to, the narrowest part of the bottle, shattering it.

Hakyeon watched almost nonblinking, the other’s stand, his breathing, the angle of his arm. “How are you this good, I don’t get it.”

“Practice, years of it. You don’t need to be good at it, you wanted to know how it works and you already do. There will never come a time where you’ll need to use one and I won’t be there.”

Hakyeon slid his hand on his soulmate’s waist, pulling him back into the house again. “I just think if I knew how to do it properly maybe I could stop someone from hurting you,” he murmured.

Taekwoon stopped. They hadn’t talked about what Sanghyuk had seen, both strategically avoiding the subject. But was that why his soulmate wanted to learn? To try and keep it from happening?

“I can take care of myself, you don’t need to worry.”

“You obviously can’t, since someone will get their hands on you,” Hakyeon spat out ironically. He had been holding himself from saying anything, afraid they would have one of their big fights, but he couldn’t anymore, let the fight come.

“Hyuk’s visions are vague, we can’t know if someone did, Yeon,” Taekwoon answered calmly, placing his gun down and looking at Hakyeon’s annoyed face.

The older turned his eyes. “No, Taekwoon, you’ll almost die but I’m _sure_ it’ll be a car crash and not a bullet.”

“Are you mad at me?”

“Yes!” Hakyeon answered almost immediately, not able to keep the words from pouring from his mouth. “Of course I’m mad at you. How could I not be? I see the way people look at you, Taekwoon, they’re terrified, you’re a threat. How could you _not_ be a target to them?”

Taekwoon huffed out a laugh, still calm. “You think I brought my future upon myself. It’s fine, I do too.”

“No-” Hakyeon pointed a finger to his face, gritting his teeth. “don’t put words in my mouth, Taekwoon. Just don’t expect me to feel absolutely fine with the fact that you put yourself in danger every day, because I’m not.”

“So, what do you want me to do, Hakyeon? Leave everything behind just like that?”  _Yes_ , his own thoughts screamed at him, but he continued to defend himself with the arguments he created as a comfortable shield. Made it easier to bear the life he had. “I’m ankle deep in this shit, there is no way I can have a normal life, someone would always come for me, I just have to accept the consequences of my fucked up choices.”

Hakyeon’s eyes widened and the other knew he had misunderstood him. “Die? You have to die then?” he screamed, his hands started to shake, Taekwoon wasn’t startled by the sudden change, used to it coming from his soulmate. “I cannot believe you, Taekwoon. You’re telling me you live expecting someone to kill you?”

Just like that, they had entered fighting territory, the one they visited every so often over the years. Taekwoon and Hakyeon were very different people, but one thing they had in common was the fact they never backed down, they were both headstrong and they liked to have the last word.

Another thing the soulmates had in common was the fact both of them were on the edge, and pretending everything was fine was not helping them digest their emotions. Everything was getting bottled in.

“No! You’re the one putting words in my mouth now, I don’t expect to die, I just know now when Hyuk’s vision happens I’ll have deserved it,” Taekwoon blurted out, voice higher than usual. When he saw tears coming to his soulmate’s eyes his stomach twisted, his words had caused that.

“You don’t _deserve_ any of this, Taekwoon!” Hakyeon held himself from slapping his face right then from even thinking such a thing. “You really think this is the path you would have chosen for you if you had had the least of support growing up?”

Hakyeon knew his soulmate had met the beast that inhabits men when he was still a boy, the ones that were supposed to love and protect him never did. Taekwoon’s parents taught him what fear was, Taekwoon’s uncle taught him what wrath was. Hakyeon blamed the disgusting man for the turn Taekwoon’s life had taken, because a part of him died when Nayoung did, when 15-year-old Taekwoon had to put the person he loved most in the world on the ground.

Hakyeon still remembered the way his soulmate trembled in his arms as he saw his sister for the last time, lying between the sea of baby breaths in the casket, skin so sickly pale it matched the flowers, lips shut to never sing another sweet song again.

Hakyeon would never forget Taekwoon’s state the night after the funeral, the way he screeched whilst in his embrace and desperately begged Hakyeon to let him follow her, that he couldn’t live without her. The older couldn’t do anything other than holding him and trying to comfort him by reassuring Nayoung wouldn’t suffer anymore, their uncle couldn’t hurt her anymore. Nayoung was free, but Taekwoon remained trapped in his suffering forever.

“Of course I wouldn’t have chosen this, but you can’t possibly think what happened is an excuse for what I do.” Taekwoon swallowed dry, trying to keep his own tears in, trying to keep himself from going back to the dark memories.

It didn’t matter if he was raised by monsters, if he knew pain and loss more than he knew love and support, he didn’t have to turn into a monster himself. But he did, he was a monster.

“It’s not an excuse, Taekwoon, it’s a fact. When I met you there was much more good in you than bad, nowadays is no different,” Hakyeon argued, somewhat calmer. “So many people would have lost themselves if they had to live through what you did, but there is _still_ much more light than darkness inside you.”

“And you think I didn’t lose myself?” Taekwoon felt his heart racing, his own face flushing. “Look around you, Hakyeon. Everything I have was built over of the blood I spilled, why do you think I don’t sleep? I’m tormented by the monstrosities I do, how naturally it comes to me now.”

Taekwoon saw Hakyeon shaking his head, tears wetting his cheek. He would have felt bad if there weren’t some blurring his eyes too, if his throat wasn’t burning with anger too. The younger was so exhausted from having to always do the wrong thing and he was so tired of Hakyeon always trying to make excuses for him, lying to make him feel better.

He didn’t entertain the possibility of the older believing the words. Hakyeon didn’t think he was a monster.

At last, Taekwoon huffed a laugh. “More light than darkness inside of me? That’s a fairytale and you know it, snap out of it, death is what I get for doing what I do. Divine justice, or whatever the fuck people call it.”

Hakyeon’s chest tightened. “You’ve given up.”

The younger took in a shaky breath. “I’m sorry, Hakyeon. You’re going to suffer more than anyone when I’m gone, it’s not fair to you at all, but I’ve always told you to stay away from me.”

Hakyeon felt his shoulders shaking, ducking his head and letting the sobs come up his chest. It seemed unfair his fate was losing everyone he cared about. How could Taekwoon give up? Didn’t Hyuk say he fought to the end?

“Please- don’t say this to me, you know that’s not how we work- if I asked you to step away from my life now, would you be able to?” Taekwoon saw the pain in the other’s eyes and it hurt him too, but Hakyeon had to stop lying to him.

“Yes.” Taekwoon showed no hesitation, surprising Hakyeon, who had asked so confidently because he didn’t expect that answer.

Yes, he would be able to step away from Hakyeon’s life if he asked him to. If he finally realized how toxic Taekwoon was, how sickening was the life he led and the things he did. However, that didn’t mean he would want to. No. The thought of not having his best friend by his side, the one who stood by him when no one else would, was wrecking, heartbreaking, agonizing. If the day came that he would be forced to make that choice, he would suffer and mourn all of his days, for as long as he lived.

But Taekwoon was used to mourning, he was used to losing the ones he loved. It had never been a secret the older would be safer if they were apart. So, yes, he concluded, if Hakyeon asked for him to, he would sacrifice one of the only things he greedly allowed himself to have and step away from his life.

Hakyeon felt like he’d been stabbed, in fact, he much rather having been stabbed. What he’d heard wasn’t that Taekwoon cared enough to let him go, he’d heard Taekwoon didn’t care enough to stay. That, or he was blocking the rational part of his brain that was trying to make him come to his senses, deciding to just ignore reality so he could pour his emotions out like he always needed to.

“Good to know how much I mean to you.”

Taekwoon watched as Hakyeon walked to the key holder on the wall, grabbing the one he hadn't touched in a long time.

Hakyeon squeezed the keys to his own place in his hands and left without saying anything else.

\--

As soon as he got into the taxi to go to his place he grabbed his phone, ignoring the worried looks he was getting from the driver over his state.

Hakyeon didn’t say anything as he left the house, crying, hurt. He’d already realized he just needed to take out his frustrations over the overwhelming things happening in his life on someone, Taekwoon just happened to trigger him off. He didn’t know how to word his own emotions right, how scared to losing his soulmate he was, it was easier to run away, it brought relief from the pressure of the moment and gave him space from Taekwoon to try process the fact that he might lose him.

Because it all boiled down to that, Hakyeon’s fear of losing Taekwoon.

He hadn’t, however, taken into consideration how much he hated fighting with Taekwoon, how it was just wasting the little time he had left. He sobbed again at the thought, holding himself from just going back to Taekwoon’s place and apologize for storming out. But he shouldn’t, he knew he needed at least one night to put himself in check, to control himself and stop lashing out on others.

But that didn’t mean he wanted to be alone, he hated being alone.

Hakyeon grabbed his phone and texted both Jaehwan and Sanghyuk, begging them to meet him at his apartment, receiving an answer from both almost immediately, saying they were on their way. The pilot didn’t know how long it took for him to reach his building, what he did know was that for once he enjoyed the traffic, using the extra time so he could sob some more before he got home.

When he got off the taxi he got spotted by Sanghyuk and Jaehwan, who had been waiting in the older’s car parked in front of his building. They both looked extremely concerned and Hakyeon felt bad, they didn’t know about his inclination to drama yet.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Sanghyuk frowned, placing a hand on his back and rubbing it gently. Hakyeon choked out another sob and shook his head no, the cold breeze on his wet cheeks making him flinch.

Jaehwan wrapped his arm around Hakyeon’s shoulder, pulling him to his chest as they walked to the building, there was no point trying to talk about anything in the cold. Hakyeon leaned into the younger and let him guide him, shaking hands managing to get the code right so they could get in.

“What happened, Yeon?” Sanghyuk asked once they were out of the cold, using his sleeve to dry some of the cold tears from Hakyeon’s cheeks, hovering close to him in concern after.

“I f-fought with Taekwoon.” he explained, leaning further into Jaehwan, letting his hand brushing up and down his arm comfort him.

The soulmates exchanged relieved looks, they thought something much worse had happened. Still, watching Hakyeon cry so copiously made them sympathetic.

“Why?”

Hakyeon sniffled, Sanghyuk brought his hand up and brushed his hair back fondly, the older reveled in the attention he was getting, his head leaning towards the touch. “I- it was too much, we d-disagree a lot and sometimes he says things that are meant to hurt himself and end u-up hurting me. I can’t stand the fact he thinks he deserves to d-die for what he’s done, he doesn’t, none of you do, life is not that black and white. After what Hyuk saw I’m so- scared, I don’t want to lose him.”

Sanghyuk tried to smile. “Jae and I are really scared too, terrified, but Yeon-” the boy held the older by the shoulders, speaking softly. “he won’t go, I know it.”

Hakyeon sighed loudly and trembled, feeling new tears coming to his eyes. “I seriously c-can’t be in this world without him, he’s so important to me. I can’t picture having a life without him being a p-part of it, I can’t, he means too much, he’s a part of me. If he dies-”

Jaehwan tried to avoid the stirring in his stomach at the thought, squeezing the other’s arm gently. “You won’t need to, you need to believe in him.”

Hakyeon whimpered, turning to hug Jaehwan and letting his gentle embrace and Sanghyuk’s hand stroking his back comfort him through his tormenting thoughts. The wide entrance hall echoed with Hakyeon’s pain filled sobs and the three of them, together, had a moment to acknowledge how scared they were for their friend. Taekwoon played different parts in their lives, but they all loved him immensely, having to deal with the fear of losing him in their own ways.

They stayed like that, quiet and alone together until Hakyeon’s sobs were replaced by silence. The older sniffled and raised his head from Jaehwan’s chest.

“I’m sorry I texted you, but I knew I couldn’t go back to his place and I don’t wanna be alone.” Hakyeon took a step back, rubbing his swollen eyes.

“Did he kick you out or something?” Sanghyuk asked, even though he couldn’t picture Taekwoon doing such a thing.

“No, he wouldn't. When I got to my limit I stormed out.”

“Why?” Jaehwan asked, he thought the fight had been about Hakyeon’s fear of losing his soulmate, not understanding why he would want to leave his side then.

Hakyeon shrugged his shoulder. “Thought you’d n-noticed how dramatic I am.”

Jaehwan huffed out a laugh. “You want me to drive you back?”

Hakyeon shook his head. “No, I’m not done crying yet, I think I need a night by myself to think things through, I’m such a mess most of the time and Taek has to deal with it, let him have a break from me.”

Sanghyuk laughed. “We’ll stay with you a little bit to make sure you’re okay, then we’ll give you some space.”

Hakyeon smiled and nodded, he would like that. “Thank you.”

The older felt a rush of warmth run through him when the blue-haired placed a hand on his shoulders so they could walk together, pulling him close under his big frame. Hakyeon was grateful to have gained him as a friend, it was rare to find someone like Sanghyuk, that always knew how to deal with a situation, the younger seemed to understand what he was feeling and respond with exactly what he needed to hear.

“Oh-” Sanghyuk stopped, putting a hand on his pocket. “Jae, I forgot my phone in the car, let me get it just one second so I can return Sik’s calls, you two can go ahead and I’ll be there in a second. The code to the building is 2105 right?”

Hakyeon nodded. “The apartment is the 23.”

Jaehwan tossed the key to his soulmate and he grabbed it midair, murmuring a thank you as he walked calmly in the opposite direction the other two were going.

Hakyeon huffed out a laugh as they walked and Jaehwan looked curiously at him. “What?”

“I’m such a mess, look at this circus.”

Jaehwan chuckled. “I think we all are kind of a mess.”

“I guess you’re right.” he wrapped his arms around Jaehwan’s and leaned his cheek on his shoulder as they went up the stairs.

The younger didn’t mind Hakyeon’s random displays of affection, in fact, he loved them. Being a very touchy person himself with two very reserved best friends he was touch deprived most of the time, Hakyeon seemed to have come into his life to balance that out, he was more than happy to let the older use him as a clothing hanger.

“I haven’t been here in weeks.” Hakyeon murmured, eyes darting around the familiar hallway. “I’m still so upset about giving this place up, Jae, I worked so hard for it.”

Jaehwan glanced to the side, Hakyeon’s arms wrapped on his, red eyes on the floor like looking straight up and facing reality would be too painful. “I’m sorry, Yeon.”

“It’s not like it’s your fault.” Hakyeon chuckled, using the same words he had the last time they’d talked by themselves.

Jaehwan laughed, stopping in front of Hakyeon’s door and facing him. “I’m still sorry anyway.” he also repeated himself.

Hakyeon looked at Jaehwan’s face, his gentle round brown eyes. He felt a tug at his chest when he realized how much he already cared for the younger, how lighter he made him feel, like a ray of sunshine peeking through grey heavy clouds. Hakyeon unexpectedly opened his arms to Jaehwan and the younger offered one of his wide smiles in return, wrapping his arms around the other’s middle and embracing him with no question.

“Thank you for coming into my life.” Hakyeon murmured after a brief moment, kissing his cheek. Jaehwan smiled, squeezing him lightly in his arms before he let him go.

“Well- you can thank _Leo_ for letting me-” the younger began ironically but the older punched his shoulder.

“Shut up.”

Hakyeon still had a smile on his lips as he started to look for his keys, thinking about how he wouldn’t have anything to offer his friends other than water and wine.

When the older swung the door open his smile fell, he could tell something was off immediately. The kitchen light was on and there was a shirt draped over the chair, he took a step back and clashed into Jaehwan’s chest, grabbing his hand in a reflex.

“Yeon? What’s wrong?” Jaehwan frowned, feeling the other squeeze their fingers together.

The older couldn’t answer, he swallowed and peeked around the door to see if there was anybody in his living room. When Hakyeon saw who was sleeping on his couch he gasped, his strong grip on Jaehwan’s hand loosening in shock, body going numb and fingers going cold in the space of a second.

“Minhyuk.” Hakyeon whispered, staring at the face of the man he thought he would never see again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please don't hurt me 
> 
>  
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/beanguni)


	15. Chapter 15

Hakyeon was nothing if not a man of plans. He’d made several throughout his life, it helped him figure out where he was going, what was the right path to follow to reach his goals. Making plans made him comfortable, so it was natural he’d gone through the many possible scenarios regarding Minhyuk coming back and asking, no, begging for forgiveness. The perfect plan consisted of him lifting his chin up, accepting his soulmate’s apology and coldly asking him to leave his life forever.

Hakyeon was nothing if not a man of plans. _Making them,_ he realized when he saw Minhyuk’s peacefully sleeping cuddling what he noticed was one of his own pillows, _not following them_. Following plans was hard to someone like Hakyeon.

The pilot felt himself coming back from the shock just as quickly as he fell into it, his hands letting go of Jaehwan’s and a new plan plotting itself on his mind: end Minhyuk and all he stood for. That one he wanted to follow.

Hakyeon stood at the edge of the couch, staring down at the man lying in it. “Wake up!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, scaring Minhyuk awake and making Jaehwan, who was watching from a distance, flinch at the sound.

Minhyuk saw a pair of very long legs when he was startled out of his pleasant dream, tracing his eyes up until he found his soulmate’s. The man sat up the moment he realized he wasn’t dreaming anymore. Hakyeon was finally back home, back to him.

“Baby, you’re home.” Minhyuk got up from the couch and faced his soulmate, cheeks flushed from the heat of the sweater he was wearing, Hakyeon’s sweater. A smile spread across his face and Hakyeon’s did his best to ignore the slight stir in his gut that wanted to touch Minhyuk.

A soulmate bond would always try to preserve itself, but Hakyeon was not weak and he was certainly not going to give into its magic, his goal had been to get rid of it for a while. He knew Minhyuk didn’t have a place in his life anymore even if at that moment the magic was trying to convince him otherwise.

The pilot’s mouth fell open and he squeezed his hands so tight his knuckles turned white. “Baby?!” he took a step forward and Minhyuk took one back, scared at the expression on the other's face. “What the fuck is wrong with you?! Do you think you can come back after what you’ve done and act like everything is fine? I’m going to kill you!”

Hakyeon launched himself on top of the shorter man, pushing him down on the couch and punching and slapping everywhere he could reach, Minhyuk trying to avoid the hits but too slow to keep up with him.

“How dare- you do this to me? Who the fuck do you think you are?” Hakyeon screamed through his aching throat and flying fists, Jaehwan and now Sanghyuk at the door exchanging looks and silently trying to figure out if they should intervene. They got their answer when Hakyeon got up and screamed in his soulmate’s direction, sound so thunderous and intimidating they decided it was best not to touch him right then, they had never seen him like that.

Minhyuk winced away from the older with wide eyes, dragging himself to the end of the couch so he could get up safely. The younger stared at his panting soulmate, the veins popping from his neck and found himself terrified of the man, he hadn’t expected that reaction.

“Please, let me explain,” Minhyuk said after clearing his throat, gathering all the courage in his being.

“Please, do.” Hakyeon crossed his arms over his chest, not blinking nearly enough as he should.

“You’re hurt, I understand. I’m sorry, Hakyeon, I truly am, I was way out of line, I fucked up,” Minhyuk said and Hakyeon scoffed.

“Fucked up is an understatement, but go on,” he said, chin up.

The Hakyeon Minhyuk had known was vulnerable, wore his heart on his sleeve, was forgiving. His soulmate was calm, caring, romantic. The man Minhyuk found then was looking down at him, looked disgusted. What had happened to his Hakyeon?

“I was weak, Hakyeon, I got desperate. I was so deep in debt and I had no idea of the people I was dealing with. They started to threaten me and I saw an opportunity to solve everything-”

“An opportunity?” Hakyeon grunted and Minhyuk swallowed dry again. “The fact that you thought stealing everything I own was even a _possibility_ just proves how fucked up of a person you are. There is no excuse, Minhyuk. None.”

“Please, Hakyeon, you have to understand how bad things were for me, try to put yourself in my shoes-” Minhyuk stopped talking when he saw the expression on Hakyeon’s face change, darken, that was the worst thing he could have said.

Hakyeon felt nauseated, put himself in Minhyuk’s shoes? He was robbed, lied to, beaten and dragged into crime because of what he’d done. He’d lost everything and the man responsible for ripping everything from him was asking him to understand his reasons for doing so. Maybe Hakyeon just wasn’t that good of a man, because he found himself unable to even try to forgive him.

The older raised his hand and, with a gasp from the standing audience, slapped Minhyuk across his face.

“Leave,” Hakyeon spit the word, hands shaking, watching Minhyuk turn his face slowly towards him again, obviously shocked. “I never want to see you again.”

“What?” The younger’s eyes widened, he shuttered, “n-no, Hakyeon, you’re hurt right now, but we found each other- we only have each other in this world.”

Hakyeon laughed hysterically, but there was nothing funny about that situation. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

Minhyuk swallowed down his hurt pride and tried another approach, speaking with a softer voice. “Please, Hakyeon, you’re important to me, please, just tell me what I need to do to make things right, what will it take for you to forgive me so we can start over?”

Hakyeon’s heart tightened at his words. Start over. He got a rush of mixed emotions, the statement sounded both wonderful and terrible, but he knew he only truly wanted one of those two, the other came from the magic, fighting against his will when it began to feel his intentions.

Hakyeon knew he had to be stronger. “Minhyuk,” he said through his teeth, “do you actually think there is fixing to what you’ve done?”

“I know what I did was horrible, but-”

Hakyeon interrupted, his face warming with another wave of anger. “No but. It was horrible, _period_. There is no turning back, if you came here to try and make things right, to erase the past, it’s not happening. Not now, not ever. _No but_.” Hakyeon felt a pull on his stomach, a wave of energy coming from their mark and crawling up, slightly nauseating. Minhyuk felt nothing.

“Yeon, it was just money, I took money, I needed it. What we have is worth much more than that, you can’t possibly say you won’t forgive me.” The younger shook his head, looking at the other like he was the crazy one.

“You have no idea what I’ve been through because of you, Minhyuk. People came to my house in the middle of the night and pointed a gun to my head. I thought I was going to _die_ , do you really think this is about money? You handed over my house, that I’ve worked so hard for-” Tears burned his eyes again, but he made sure to keep them in, he would only get the chance to have that conversation once, he wanted no words left unsaid. “You stole everything from me, everything. You took my trust and you broke it, you betrayed me, there is no coming back from that.”

Minhyuk felt himself getting desperate, so much so that he wasn’t scared to step forward and grab Hakyeon by the wrist, trying to force him to listen.

The moment their skins touched it was like fireworks and explosions, the magic rushing through the older desperately, trying to remind him why it deserved to stay, but Hakyeon felt like throwing up from it, the bond did nothing but disgust him, Minhyuk disgusted him.

“Hakyeon, of course there’s coming back from it, are you insane? Do you feel this between us? You won’t get this with anyone else because we belong to each other, you’ll have to find a way to forgive me. You’re _mine_ ,” Minhyuk said possessively through his teeth.

Hakyeon pulled his hand back, wrist aching from the rough grasp. “I’m not yours, I’ve never been yours. I don’t _have_ to do anything, I don’t owe you anything. I don’t want to be tied with someone like you, I deserve so much more. If you came here hoping for a second chance you’re not getting one. It’s over, Minhyuk.”

Before the older was even done talking Minhyuk interrupted him. “You’re crazy! Are you forgetting the fact that we are soulmates? You have a mark on your skin that proves you belong to _me_ , you won’t ever have another. You’re hurt now and I get it, but you’ll come around! You have to.”

Hakyeon inflated his chest and the words just poured from his mouth. “I’m not a fucking child, Minhyuk! I know what’s best for me and you are not it. I never want to see you again, if I do it will be in a courtroom where I’ll get myself a restraining order so you can never even walk the same street I do. My future is whatever _I_ want it to be, I don’t belong to anyone other than myself and if the option is you or nothing, I’ll choose nothing every- single- time. We’re done- _forever_. Goodbye, Minhyuk.”

As soon as Hakyeon finished his sentence, filled with a certainty he’d never felt about anything before, he was taken by an immense amount of pain. It came from his stomach and took his entire body, his knees went weak and tears started spilling from his eyes. The older gasped and clutched at his stomach, knocked out of breath by the sharp pain the magic was causing him, fogging his senses and making his head heavy.

Hakyeon gasped and bent over in agony, having been totally responsible for the Tearing, he was taking all the side effects from it and Minhyuk, not feeling anything at all, was confused. “Hakyeon? What’s going on?” He reached for the other’s head, holding his face with both hands and forcing him to look up to his eyes. But when their skins touched, there was nothing there anymore. The energy that vibrated between the two was gone, it had disappeared.

Minhyuk’s eyes widened and tears came to his own eyes. “No- how- what have you done, Hakyeon, what have you done.” The younger reached for the hem of Hakyeon’s shirt and pulled it up, looking for the mark.

The lines of their orange rose were blurring in a swirl, something that he never thought it would be possible if he wasn’t seeing with his own eyes. The colors mixed and began to fade, and before he knew it, it was gone, his skin smooth and even like it had never even been there, like Minhyuk had never existed, as if their souls had never tangled in the first place. Hakyeon felt the rest of the magic draining from his body, clawing painfully at him like it was trying to resist, but it was done, the moment Hakyeon was true in his words and intentions, it was done.

Hakyeon, dizzy, pressed his eyes shut and tried to not fall to his knees, lightheaded as if there was no ground under his feet. But suddenly, the ache from the Tearing was not the only one.

Minhyuk had put his hands back at Hakyeon’s face and was forcing his head up by digging his nails on the skin of his cheeks. “Tell me how you did this, how do I fix it?” Minhyuk screamed, shaking Hakyeon like he was a raggedy doll. The older’s knees gave, his body hitting the floor and he coughed when new tears came to his eyes, openly sobbing. “You’ve ruined everything!”

Hakyeon had just enough time to look up and see Minhyuk lifting his foot in the air, closing his eyes and preparing himself for what was coming, still too numb to fight back. He didn’t hear the quick steps behind him, but when he heard a thump of a fist hitting a face and didn’t feel anything, he opened his eyes and glanced up again.

Jaehwan was quick in his movements, spinning Minhyuk over by his shoulders and giving a hard punch on his face, followed by an immediate knee to his crotch. He spared no strength, and it was Minhyuk’s time to fall on his knees, holding between his legs with his mouth hanging open in both shock and pain.

The brown-haired then turned to Hakyeon and crouched on his side, holding his face gently with both hands, a deeply worried frown on his face.

“Are you okay?” Jaehwan asked, trying to ignore the urge to turn on his back and hit Minhyuk again when Hakyeon trembled under his hands.

“Please- make h-him leave,” he begged. Sanghyuk appeared behind them next, slower to react than his soulmate, and wrapped Hakyeon shoulders trying to comfort him.

Once the older leaned into him, Sanghyuk looked to Jaehwan. “I’ve got him. Get Minhyuk out of here,” the younger said, feeling the uneasy magic rushing inside of Hakyeon, dissipating at the cost of his agony.

Hakyeon choked another sob and Jaehwan felt his ears warming in anger again. He got on his feet at the same time as Minhyuk resurfaced from the hurt Jaehwan had caused him, surprised to see his attacker, someone he didn’t know.

“Who the fuck are you?” Minhyuk tried to speak loud, but his voice broke. The man stumbled to his feet, hand still between his legs as if that would help with the pain.

When he glanced over to the side he saw Hakyeon on the floor, wrapped in the arms of a blue-haired boy, curling himself onto his chest. Guilt struck him when he realized what he almost did and he took a step forward to say he was sorry, but Jaehwan put himself between the two.

The hitman used all the self-control he had inside his body to just push Minhyuk out the door and not break one of his fingers or maybe his neck whilst doing it. Once Jaehwan managed to get him in the hallway Minhyuk tried to get in again, infuriated by the stranger's boldness.

Jaehwan stood on the door, blocking his access. “The keys to the apartment, where are they?” he asked with a calm voice.

“What?”

“Keys to the apartment,” he enunciated like Minhyuk was a child learning to speak, “where are they?”

Minhyuk frowned, offended by his tone. “Excuse me? Who are you?”

“I’m Hakyeon’s friend, the smurf is also. Keys?” he answered ironically.

Minhyuk raised his lip in annoyance. “I’ve never even seen you before, get out of my fucking way and let me in.”

Jaehwan let out a dry chuckle, no emotion. “So you can hurt him again? You’ve done enough, you have no idea how much pain you’ve put him through.”

Minhyuk rolled his eyes. “Of course he suffered- he _should_ suffer if he cares for me, and he does. He is a good person.”

Jaehwan heard Hakyeon crying from inside the apartment and balled his fists again, holding himself from throwing another punch. “And you’re a horrible, horrible person.”

Minhyuk laughed. “You don’t even know me! Get out of my fucking way, this has nothing to do with you,” he said and tried to push Jaehwan aside, the hitman pushed him back.

“And you don’t know me either, you have no idea who you’re dealing with,” Jaehwan grunted in an intimidating tone. “You think you can play with someone’s life like this then say you’re sorry like that will fix it?”

Minhyuk lost his patience, exploding again. “Why do you care if I fucking hurt him, if I break him, if I kill him for that matter? It’s between him and me, you have nothing to do with this.”

Jaehwan took a step forward, staring at the shorter man’s eyes. “Don’t think I will hesitate to break you in half if you even breathe his way again, sweetheart.”

Minhyuk used a mocking tone, “you’re insane.”

Jaehwan smirked, letting Ken take over for a moment. “You have no idea. Hurt him again and I will knife your jugular, hang you upside down from the ceiling and let you bleed out like a pig, don’t fucking try me,” he murmured, watching Minhyuk expression turn to fear. “Keys,” he added after a short pause with a cheerful tone and a wide smile.

Minhyuk swallowed dry, trying to ignore how serious the other sounded on his threat. “Just let me in, I need to talk to him, I need to fix this. This is none of your business.”

Jaehwan thought about flowing rivers, the sound of the rain or crashing waves to try and calm himself down, but suddenly watching Minhyuk bleed to death sounded just wonderful. “Exactly, none of my business. _He_ was the one that asked you to never look for him again, didn’t you hear?”

“He doesn’t know what he is talking about.”

Jaehwan frowned, shaking his head. “Oh my gosh, have you no respect for Hakyeon? You’re trying this hard to get him back, but you don’t even care about what he wants. This is not my will, it’s his. He told you himself that he is not a child, that he knows what’s best for him and he told you to go. _Go_.”

“Fuck you.” Minhyuk launched himself at the door.

Jaehwan grabbed the other’s wrist in a reflex as he tried to get around him, twisting it. Minhyuk gasped in pain, looking up at the other’s relaxed face. Maybe he was actually crazy. “I’ll ask this for the last time, keys, Minhyuk,” he repeated with a calm voice, putting some strength into his hand when he got no response, definitely spraining Minhyuk’s wrist. Well, if he couldn’t kill him, that was the best next thing.

“Inside, they are inside!” Minhyuk whimpered, eyes wide in surprise.

Jaehwan let go and the other stumbled back, nesting his wrist protectively on his chest. “It’s over, you’ve heard him- and you’ve heard me too, if you ever hurt him again in any way, I swear on my life I will rip your dick off.”

The brown-haired didn’t wait for an answer, closing the door on the other’s face and hurrying back inside.

\--

“Should we leave? Like put him in bed and go?” Sanghyuk whispered to his soulmate, Hakyeon knocked out on the couch with his long legs on top of him.

Jaehwan glanced down at the older, head resting on his lap. “No, I don’t think he should be alone here. Not only the mafia knows this place, but that asshole knows it too, I don’t think it’s safe.”

“Should we take him back to Taekwoon’s then?”

Jaehwan shook his head. “I don’t think they’re on good terms right now, you heard Hakyeon say he wanted space, they’ve been spending a lot of time together.”

Sanghyuk pouted and nodded in agreement, if Jaehwan was closer he would have pinched his cheek. “Let’s take him to yours then, he can sleep and we can watch a movie. That way we can keep an eye on him and I have an excuse to eat some popcorn, everybody wins.”

Jaehwan glanced down again, Hakyeon hadn’t even moved through the whole conversation, drained from the Tear. “Sure, Blue.”

Sanghyuk carefully took Hakyeon’s legs from his lap, scooching to the side so he could get up. Before Jaehwan got up too he noticed Sanghyuk going to the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” the older asked when his soulmate reached for Hakyeon’s pantry.

“Popcorn goes well with chocolate,” Sanghyuk answered without taking his eyes from his task, Jaehwan smiled.

Whilst Sanghyuk chose carefully between dark or milk chocolate, Jaehwan ran his hand softly through Hakyeon’s hair, trying to wake him up. The older still didn’t move, so he decided to shake his shoulder lightly, but, once again, Hakyeon showed no signs of waking up.

After Minhyuk left, Hakyeon still cried for a long while before he fell asleep, his only request was that his friends didn’t leave his side, which they didn’t. The older suffered over the fact that it was over with Minhyuk, but also over the fact it had begun in the first place. It broke a piece of him that when he met Minhyuk again his beauty was the only good thing he had to say about him.

Hakyeon pretended not to see that when he was on the floor, defenseless, Minhyuk was going to use of the moment of his vulnerability to hurt him. But he did see, and if Jaehwan hadn’t step in to protect him, he would have. If that was the man he was destined to, what did that say about him?

“Yeon.” Jaehwan tried again, tickling his ear. Hakyeon moved in his sleep, but ended up curling against Jaehwan’s stomach, letting out a hum of approval when his face was nested on the comfy fabric of his hoodie. The brown-haired chuckled. “Yeon, you need to wake up.”

Hakyeon grunted and buried his face further, fully awake then but deciding it was best not to move.

“I know you’re awake.” Jaehwan teased with a playful voice, but his hand was going through the older’s hair just as gently as before. Hakyeon hummed in approval again.

“How?” the older asked with a raspy voice.

Jaehwan huffed out a laugh. “For one, you've just answered me. Come on, we’re taking you somewhere.”

Hakyeon’s opened his eyes and looked up at Jaehwan, surprised at the fact that somehow he still managed to look handsome even from that unflattering angle. “Why?”

“Because you shouldn’t be here alone.” Jaehwan fondled his hair again.

“Fine,” he whispered, but still didn’t move.

Jaehwan smiled again, voice playful. “Should I carry you or-”

“You didn’t carry me out of here when I was covered in blood even, I can walk.” Hakyeon sounded offended that Jaehwan thought he wanted to be carried out, like he didn't love it.

Jaehwan pulled his ear. “Sure, tough guy, let’s go”

Hakyeon stumbled onto his feet and went, eyes closed, out of his apartment, amusing both Sanghyuk and Jaehwan, who stood on his either side waiting for him to trip over himself and fall on his ass.

Surprisingly, it didn’t happen, and as soon as he sat in Jaehwan’s car he fell back into sleep, snoring between low breaths from exhaustion.

When Jaehwan tried to wake Hakyeon up once they arrived at his house, he didn’t succeed, it seemed the older was really out that time. Jaehwan gently started to pull him to sit down so he could cradle him into his arms, Hakyeon snuggling on his chest once he succeeded.

Jaehwan held firmly under his knees and his back as he walked into his house, the door left open by Sanghyuk who was already in the kitchen making noise and looking for the butter and salt to put on his popcorn.

The brown-haired went to his room, which had the bigger bed, and carefully placed Hakyeon down, eyes going to his face to check if the older had woken up the moment he touched the soft surface. Jaehwan focused on sliding his arms from under his friend slowly, as if accidentally waking him up would be the worst thing he could ever do. However, Hakyeon was so still he seemed like one of those kids who pretended to be sleeping once their parents walked in on them doing something naughty.

Once his arms were free, Jaehwan moved to take Hakyeon’s shoes off so he could sleep more comfortably, hands always careful as he held his leg up and slid the shoes off one by one, placing them neatly side by side on the foot of the bed.

When Jaehwan was satisfied he looked at Hakyeon’s face again. The older’s eyes were swollen from crying himself to sleep, his fringe damp from the tears. Jaehwan pushed the hair aside gently, carding his fingers through the wet strands until all of it was off his forehead. His fingers ghosted down his face after, brushing over his cheek lightly.

Hakyeon was so unbelievably stunning, caring, funny, strong. Jaehwan knew better than anyone life was not fair, but it still bothered him someone he cared about was suffering. Because he did care about Hakyeon, and the moment he saw Minhyuk for the first time he wanted to kill him for having hurt him like that.

Jaehwan sighed, hand caressing lightly the other’s jawline before he stepped away from the bed and walked to the door.

“Jae.” The younger heard the whisper as he was leaving.

When Jaehwan turned around Hakyeon had his eyes wide open, looking very awake. “Did you pretend to be asleep so I would carry you?”

The brown-haired huffed out a laugh when Hakyeon nodded slightly. “I was tired.”

“So rest, Yeon,” he said with a soft tone, but the older slid his hand on the mattress and tapped it, asking for Jaehwan to sit next to him and turning to watch him once he did. “Are you okay?” He broke the silence that was starting to get uncomfortable.

Hakyeon stared at him for a moment before he whispered, “no.” He paused, the words leaving his mouth in a flat tone, trying to keep himself from getting worked up again. “If Minhyuk and I are- _were_ soulmates, does that mean I’m like him? Am I someone who has this betraying thing inside of me? Who thinks I own another person? Could I hurt someone else like this?”

Jaehwan let him finish, not breaking eye contact as he answered. “Do you think you are like him?”

Hakyeon was not expecting a question in return, he thought he would hear something reassuring, maybe a praise, something that he could pretend to believe for a few minutes before his insecurity crawled back.

Jaehwan had seen Hakyeon crying before, he had seen him bleeding, broken, at his weakest. He’d also seen Hakyeon smile, put his chin up and get through all of his problems, he knew the pilot was strong, but he needed him to realize that on his own.

Hakyeon thought about the people he loved, his family, Taekwoon, Sanghyuk, his friends from home, Jaehwan. Would he be able to betray and hurt them like that?

“No, I’m nothing like him,” Hakyeon murmured after a while.

Jaehwan smiled. “No, you’re not. You’re your own person, Yeon, doesn’t matter if you shared a fate’s mark with him or not.”

Hakyeon’s hand instinctively went to his stomach, he hadn’t looked at it since Minhyuk had left. His eyes trailed down and his heart picked up its pace slightly, a part of him still afraid it might still be there. Hakyeon lifted his shirt and looked to find- nothing. The skin was smooth and even like nothing was ever there, like there was never a rose, like Minhyuk had never existed in his life.

“Even if it was still there, it wouldn’t define you.” Jaehwan’s voice made the older turn to look at him again.

Hakyeon huffed. “When did you become so wise?” He slapped the brown-haired’s thigh.

“Rude. I’ve always been wise, you just never paid attention to it.” Jaehwan smiled, smacking the other’s hand away.

Hakyeon chuckled, but let a silence drag out after. When Jaehwan saw him avoiding his eyes, he noticed the older was uncomfortable, his fingers playing with the covers.

The older cleared his throat and with much effort, made his fingers go from the covers to Jaehwan’s hand, squeezing it lightly. “I think he would have actually- hurt me if you weren’t there. Thank you for standing up for me,” Hakyeon said with a small voice, pulling his hand back after.

Jaehwan frowned when the scene came back to him. Hakyeon on the ground, golden skin pale as paper, guard down, sobbing, and Minhyuk, unaware that they weren't alone, getting ready to harm him even more.

“You should be mad I only punched him and sprained his wrist. He deserved, at least, a broken rib,” Jaehwan grunted.

Hakyeon raised his brow. “You sprained his wrist?”

The brown-haired pursued his lips, hesitating for a moment. “I did.”

Hakyeon smiled. “Good.”

Jaehwan snorted. “You should go to sleep, Hyuk and I are going to watch a movie, we’re right outside if you need us.”

“This is your room.” Hakyeon pointed out as the other got up.

“Good observation.” Jaehwan crossed his arms over his chest, amused.

Hakyeon responded with the same sharp tone. “You got the order wrong, first we go out for drinks, then we sleep together.”

Jaehwan felt his face heating up. “I’ll sleep with Hyuk in the guest room, don’t worry, you have this room to yourself.”

Hakyeon, getting the reaction he wanted, smiled. “I’m joking, Jaehwan. I could sleep in the next room too, it’s not a problem.”

“It’s okay, Yeon, just rest.”

Hakyeon sighed. “Fine, I’m not complaining, this is the king’s chambers, probably the biggest bed.”

Jaehwan chuckled and nodded. “Yes, it is. Good night, Yeon.”

“Good night, Jae.”

\--

“Ken?” Hongbin’s voice made the brown-haired turn his attention from Taekwoon to the door.

“Hey, what’s up?” Jaehwan walked towards him, leaving Taekwoon to finish writing on the house’s journal, pretending to be focused on the task.

“Is N not here yet?” Hongbin glanced around the room, looking for the pilot.

Jaehwan shook his head. “He’s still sick, not coming in tonight again- do you need anything from him? I could give him a message.”

Hongbin smiled and shook his head. “It can wait, but thank you. Everything alright around here?” He looked to the others.

“Fine, I just miss gorgeous very much, Hongbin, I don’t know how I’m handling it,” YJ said dramatically and the Hongbin huffed out a laugh.

“I’m sorry, but I have reason to believe he doesn’t miss you back.” Hongbin joked and Taekwoon smiled, eyes still on his notes.

YJ frowned. “What? What do you mean?” he followed the other out of the room, wanting some clarifying. “Hongbin, wait!” The partners could hear Hongbin’s explosive laughter far into the living room.

Once they were alone Jaehwan stayed silent, waiting for the question he knew was coming. “Is he better?” Taekwoon whispered.

Jaehwan smiled, lowering his voice as a precaution. “Yeah, Blue and I are taking care of him. When are you two intending to start talking again? You seem like children bickering.”

Taekwoon huffed out a laugh. “It’s not what you think, we’re not acting like kids. Every time we fight, we spend a week or so without speaking to each other to cool off then I go to him and we just pretend it never happened.”

“That’s- weird,” Jaehwan said, for lack of a better word, raising his brow.

“I know, but that’s just how we are. You’ll see, once I go to him it’ll be like nothing ever happened.” Taekwoon chuckled watching the other twist his nose.

That had been true since they were teenagers, Hakyeon and Taekwoon would explode, exchange offenses, the occasional slap and go their separate ways, stomping their feet while at it. When they didn’t know each other well enough yet, Hakyeon would always want to discuss what happened and solve things through dialogue, but quickly he found out Taekwoon wasn’t comfortable with that, so they switched to a new dynamic. They would give each other some time away after the fight, then Taekwoon would just come up to him one day and talk about some annoying guy in his class and they would just casually catch up like nothing ever happened.

It was odd, but they had always worked well like that.

“You go to him? He doesn’t come to you?” The brown-haired thought he was lying, Hakyeon seemed much more heart-driven than his partner.

“He’s way too proud for that, I’m not.” Taekwoon simplified. “I would give him more space in a normal situation, but with the whole Minhyuk thing, I want to make sure he’s okay, I’ll probably go to your place to check up on him after we leave.”

Jaehwan smiled. “Who would have thought, you’re even more of a softie than I took you for.”

Taekwoon snorted. “Or maybe he’s way more proud than you took him for.”

“Point taken.”

YJ came back into the room and saw Ken and Leo talking quietly in a corner, crossing his arms over his chest and rolling his eyes.

“Stop with the romance, it'll just make me feel bad,” the short man said annoyed, seeing how small was the distance between the two and assuming they had been kissing.

Jaehwan sighed, throwing his arm around Taekwoon’s shoulder and placing a loud smack on his cheek, looking at YJ while doing it. His partner would definitely complain about that later, but getting on YJ’s nerves was always worth it.

“Alright, alright.” YJ surrendered, going back to his task. “Stop making out already and help me out here.” He sounded more annoyed than Jaehwan had expected and the brown-haired inflated with pride.

“L, where is that white stuff that we’re supposed to put in when the soup thingy turns Shrek green?” Jaehwan asked, looking around. Taekwoon almost laughed at the fact he knew his partner so well he understood exactly what he meant by that statement.

“I put it outside in the garden, Hongbin said it’s better to keep it in low temperatures,” Taekwoon explained, YJ just looked confused.

“Be a doll and fetch it for me, kitten?” he asked sweetly, to get on YJ’s nerves again. It worked.

Taekwoon huffed out a laugh and left the room to take his friend’s request, listening to YJ’s whining until he reached the back door.

Taekwoon was not one to be caught off guard often, but when he opened the door and saw what appeared to be Jongup pinning Hongbin against the wall he was taken aback, to say the least. Jongup had his hands on either side of Hongbin’s head and the black haired had a strong grip on his collar, their lips a breath away from each other. Taekwoon felt his eyes widening at the realization they were an item. He’d missed that completely.

Taekwoon averted his eyes from the scene when a cold breeze snapped him out of his thoughts, feeling his judgment of Hongbin’s character drop even lower as he cleared his throat. “Sorry, if I knew you would be here I would have knocked,” he said waving his hand in their direction.

There was no reply to his statement and Taekwoon just walked calmly to where he had left the chemicals and grabbed one of the cold cans, going into the house again without looking back at the two, leaving them to whatever they had been doing.

\--

Sanghyuk felt something tickling on his back and his eyes fluttered open. He realized he had fallen asleep on Wonsik’s bed, still completely naked, his soulmate sitting beside him as he balanced a book on his legs and solved equations with one hand, whilst the other was lazily going up and down his bare back, caressing it mindlessly as he murmured his thoughts out loud.

Sanghyuk didn’t move at all, staring at Wonsik’s concentrated face as he did the math and warming up at the realization that the tingling feeling that woke him up was from the tip of the red-haired’s fingers brushing over their mark on his back, their magic flowing and dancing between their skins.

The younger stared for a long while, watching the other’s features, his hooded eyes, the small bump of his nose, the line of his thin lips. His eyes traveled down and saw the way Wonsik held the pen between his fingers, the way his arm muscles tensed and relaxed as stroked his lover’s back, everything endeared Sanghyuk, the older was stunning to him. Wonsik's distracted hand crawled up to the younger's blue hair and he chuckled at the sudden change in the movement.

Wonsik noticed he had woken up Sanghyuk, eyes warming when he saw his smile.

“Did I wake you up? I’m sorry, mon chéri,” Wonsik whispered, letting the book fall to the side on the soft mattress so he could lie down and come closer to the other.

The red-haired gently placed his head on the same pillow his soulmate was using, nuzzling then kissing his shoulder before pecking his lips.

“It’s okay.” Sanghyuk turned on his side, careful to not slip from under the covers as he wrapped his arms around Wonsik and pulled him close, getting an approving hum. “Did you give up studying to cuddle? Go study, Sik.”

“It’s fine, who needs a degree anyway,” Wonsik murmured against the other’s neck and Sanghyuk chuckled.

“You, I already have mine,” the younger said jokingly and the red-haired scoffed.

“Showoff.”

“What time is it?”

“Around midnight, you fell asleep at 10-something-p.m, but I didn’t want to wake you up, you looked tired.” Wonsik kissed his bare chest and Sanghyuk smiled.

“Is that based on tonight’s performance, or…” he trailed off, teasing.

Wonsik snorted at the absurd statement and raised his eyes. “Of course not. Why are you so tired, though? You didn’t have a shift at the hospital.”

“I was over at Jae’s, remember? Because of Hakyeon. We just ended up staying up till late talking after I came home from class, I just didn’t get that much sleep,” Sanghyuk explained.

“Is he feeling better?” Wonsik asked, not knowing much about what had happened.

Sanghyuk had told Wonsik his friend had been through a Tearing from something really bad his soulmate had done. The older had asked if he was sick or hurting from it, to which he explained Hakyeon was mainly just sad and in need of his friends, justifying why he was staying over at Jaehwan’s place for a few days.

“Yeah, went to Taek’s now, they are much closer and he can keep a good eye on him to make sure he’s alright.” Sanghyuk left out the part where he had already been living there before. Because his address was known by some dangerous mafia people. Wonsik didn’t need to know that.

There was a faint buzzing noise, Wonsik’s phone ringing on the desk, but instead of standing up to take the call he continued to speak casually. “Taekwoon is Hakyeon’s platonic, right?” Sanghyuk nodded, smiling at the fact his soulmate preferred missing the call than moving away from his arms. “Weren’t they mad at each other?”

The younger pouted. “I thought they were, but yesterday Taekwoon stopped by and it was so weird, Sik, he sat next to Hakyeon on the couch and they started chatting about some movie he had watched like nothing ever happened.”

“Out of nowhere?” Wonsik raised his brow.

“Yes.”

Wonsik chuckled. “You did mention your friends were very- particular people.”

“Weird, Sik, they’re weird.”

The older laughed. “I’m glad everything is going back to normal. Tell Hakyeon I hope he feels better.” Wonsik smiled widely and Sanghyuk forgot all about they had been talking when he saw it.

Sanghyuk was much bigger than Wonsik, much stronger too, even with all the hours the older would spend at the gym. That meant whenever he wanted to just manhandle his soulmate, he could easily do so. Wonsik chuckled when Sanghyuk pulled him up effortlessly, leveling their faces, and more importantly, their lips.

“So-” Sanghyuk began, brushing their lips together. “I guess since you’ve given up on your academic life and I’ve given up on sleeping…”

Wonsik hummed. “Got any ideas?”

Sanghyuk pushed his soulmate on his back and climbed on top of him, leaning on his elbows so he could ghost their lips suggestively.

“A few.” Sanghyuk corked his brow.

“Do tell.” Wonsik placed his hands on the blue-haired’s hips, slipping his fingers under the covers and brushing them against his warm skin, making the other shiver.

“I would rather just show you.”

The younger lowered his head and sealed their lips, just pressing them at first then parting it to fit around his soulmate’s. Sanghyuk loved those moments, when they were alone with each other, intimate and comfortable, and in a place so silent he could almost hear the swirl of their magic in the air. Wonsik, as usual, was the one to want to deepen the kiss, tipping his head and asking for more.

Sanghyuk kissed Wonsik slowly but deeply, always making sure to not take a second for granted, every moment with him was special, he wanted to make the most of all of them. Wonsik laced his arms around the other’s back and hummed into his mouth again, content with the amount of warmth being shared.

They kissed until Wonsik began to feel like he was getting dizzy and Sanghyuk moved down to his neck to let him breathe. The younger bit his ear on his way and chuckled at the way Wonsik trembled under him.

“Don’t be mean.” Wonsik breathed out.

Sanghyuk huffed out a laugh and slid his hand down Wonsik’s body, fingers going over the fabric of his underwear and palming the hardness there, softly, teasingly. He felt a burst of longing through the bond, Wonsik needed more.

“I’m not being mean,” Sanghyuk whispered against the skin of the other’s neck, getting Wonsik to scoff. The blue-haired smiled at the sound just before he parted his lips and began to suck bellow Wonsik’s ear, his hand not just teasing anymore but pressing, getting a gasp in response.

“Not- sure about that.” Wonsik breathed and then moaned when Sanghyuk swirled his tongue on the sensitive skin.

Suddenly, Sanghyuk raised his head, staring into his soulmate. “Want me to stop, then?” he teased, expression so serious that if the older didn’t know him, he might have thought he wasn't joking.

Wonsik blushed at his intensity, Sanghyuk’s confidence was always surprising. The younger took his hand off and the older pouted disapprovingly, too shy to ask him to put it back, but still trying to think of a way to do so. Sanghyuk sensed his struggle and smiled, kissing him again and placing his hand back to where it was, getting a relieved sigh, massaging Wonsik’s until he started to whimper in his mouth.

Didn’t take long before Sanghyuk was fully hard himself, feeling even more eager because there were no clothes over his body, the friction of his bare member rubbing against Wonsik’s thigh making him crazy. Sanghyuk didn’t stumble across any problems when he decided to sit on the bed, getting Wonsik to sit on top of him with, lifting the other up easily. The older stood on his knees slightly, guiding Sanghyuk’s head up by the chin so they could still kiss. The younger let his hands go where they wanted to, feeling the muscles of the other’s shoulders, the dimples on his back. Wonsik let go a small gasp when Sanghyuk held the back of his knees and spread them apart, moaning into his mouth when Wonsik’s butt fell messily on his hard cock.

Like that, Wonsik was blissed. It was as if every part of them was touching, it was easy to lose himself in the way Sanghyuk kissed him passionately, the way his hand squeezed the back of his neck like the younger was afraid he would pull away, the way his heart pumped crazily on his chest. It was so good, Sanghyuk was so good for him.

But still, it was not enough, he wanted his underwear off, he wanted more of Sanghyuk, he wanted to hold him as the younger whimpered in his mouth. The thought made him shiver.

“Hyuk-” Wonsik breathed on the other’s lips, watching him flutter his eyes open. “I want-” he felt his face warming and couldn’t finish, the courage fading when he was under his soulmate’s stare.

Sanghyuk smiled, making a trail of kisses down his neck and to his chest. “What, love, what do you want?”

Wonsik blushed even further. “I- want to-” Sanghyuk hummed, distracting himself by taking one of the other’s nipples into his mouth, swirling his tongue around it as Wonsik gasped and squeezed his neck.

Sanghyuk let go briefly, looking up at Wonsik with loving eyes. “What do you want, my love?”

The older bit his lip and Sanghyuk chuckled at how shy he was, lowering his eyes and focusing on tracing Wonsik’s collarbone tattoo with his tongue. The older whimpered again, frustrated. Sanghyuk sensed it.

“How about I tell you what I want, then, is that okay?” the younger asked sweetly, not a single hint of irony in his tone, just affection.

Wonsik nodded and Sanghyuk made his way up to his lips again, kissing them chastely, cupping his face after. “First I want to take this off-” he glanced down at the other’s underwear and he almost cried in relief, Sanghyuk chuckled. “Then I want to lay you down and kiss every part I can reach-” the younger kissed his cheek. “Then I want to take you in my mouth and make you feel good-” he whispered as he kissed along the other’s jawline, seeing his breathing speeding up. Sanghyuk finally reached his lips, ghosting over them and locking eyes, showing confidence like no other. “Then I want to move with you, make love to you until we feel like we can’t anymore.”

“That’s what I want,” Wonsik breathed and let Sanghyuk kiss him again. However, that’s not all he wanted, so he gathered his courage and broke the kiss again. “But Hyuk, I- I was wondering if-”

Sanghyuk could feel how embarrassed he was through the bond, frustrated even. He wanted something else. Was it a fantasy? What did Wonsik want to ask?

“If-” Sanghyuk encouraged him and Wonsik flushed red.

“Close your eyes,” the red-haired said out of the blue, the younger frowned. “If you can’t see me maybe I can say it.”

Sanghyuk chuckled and brushed their noses together. “You’re so cute.”

Wonsik huffed. “Go on.” Sanghyuk closed his eyes and Wonsik took a deep breath, staring into his closed lids. “Don’t open them, promise?”

“Promise.” Sanghyuk nodded, tracing Wonsik’s back with his fingers, waiting patiently.

Wonsik sat down again, eyes locked on Sanghyuk’s face as he brushed his fingers on the side of his body, giving him goosebumps. Before the younger could comment on it, the red-haired circled his hips, pressing against him, teasing. When he did it again, Sanghyuk moaned and squeezed his hips. Maybe he should always keep his eyes closed, Wonsik was daring when he couldn’t see him.

Wonsik took a deep breath and broke the silence with a whisper, “I love when you’re inside of me, you make me feel so good." He swallowed dry. “I was wondering if I could, maybe-” Wonsik flushed when a smile crawled up his soulmate’s lips, understanding, so he finished. “If you would be okay with me trying that too, I want to be inside of you too,” he pushed out the words, biting his lips so hard it was a wonder how it didn’t break the skin.

Sanghyuk’s smile widened even further, almost grinning. “Is that everything?” The older huffed and hummed a yes, so his soulmate opened his eyes, staring at a tomato-red Wonsik. The younger chuckled again, how could anyone be that cute, he didn’t know. “How long have you been holding on to that?” he asked, amused.

Wonsik _giggled_ and Sanghyuk could swear his heart skipped a beat, he was so in love with that man. “So, you’re okay with it?”

Sanghyuk nodded and pecked his lips. “Of course I am.”

Wonsik sighed in relief. “I thought you might not be comfortable with it, or not want it, I don’t know.”

“I want everything with you, you just always seemed fine with how we’ve done it so far, but I’ve thought about it a lot too, I want it too. In fact, if you wanted me hanging upside down from a ceiling, I wouldn’t object.”

Wonsik laughed. “That’s hardcore, maybe let’s not go that far.”

“I agree, let’s not. But that sounds more than just good, maybe we should get on with that,” Sanghyuk said, partially joking and partially impatient.

Wonsik smiled and kissed him. The phone started to ring again and that time Sanghyuk didn’t laugh, he wouldn’t let Wonsik leave him to take the call if he wanted to. However, the older showed no intention to, letting it ring until it stopped, focusing on Sanghyuk like he was the last human on earth.

\--

Hongbin sighed, turning off the call again as he walked up the stairs. He supposed Wonsik was sleeping, he had mentioned he had a few things to study when they texted, so it would be no surprise he had already fallen asleep on top of his books.

Hongbin had been avoiding his friend for two days then, simply because he didn’t like lying to him. He didn’t want Wonsik getting involved with his work, because he knew if he said what had happened with Jongup, Wonsik would most definitely freak out and spend all the nights Hongbin was in the house trying to listen to the conversations through the bugs to make sure he’s safe.

_“What are you doing here alone? It’s cold.” Hongbin heard a voice behind him and when he turned around, Jongup was leaning on the wall, looking like he’d been staring for a while._

_The younger cleared his throat, holding his notebook and phone lightly in his hand as he turned his attention back to the stars. He had always liked the night sky, when he was younger he used to sit on his room’s window and talk to the moon, ask for advice on his troubles or simply complain about how Wonsik was allowed to do everything when he could do nothing. Wake up at 7 a.m., then school, then studying, then guitar class, then English and Japanese class, then maybe, if he had the time some free time, do whatever he wanted._

_He found in his free time he just wanted to have his own space, nobody telling him what he should or should not be doing. He would often go exercise to sweat some of his frustrations off, or play some video game, or ask his brother to help him sneak out so he could go to a club and hook up with a stranger. He found that to be very therapeutic too. Or maybe he just wanted to rebel against his father’s orders to never, ever, break curfew._

_Regardless of being a good or a bad day, when night came, the moon was always there for him, his oldest friend._

_“Just taking a break. Do you need anything?” Hongbin asked, eyes still focused on the darkness._

_“Yes.” Jongup’s voice came from closer than before and Hongbin remembered what happened the last time they were alone. He got on his feet, trying not to look too rushed, and nodded at the older casually._

_“Sure, let’s go inside then,” Hongbin said, reaching for his belongings on the garden table._

_As Hongbin reached for the doorknob he heard the other calling him. “Hongbin.”_

_The black-haired turned on his feet, waiting to see what Jongup wanted. The blond walked calmly to where he was. “About what happened, last time-”_

_Hongbin interrupted, putting his hand up to stop him before that turned into an awkward conversation. “Jongup, let’s pretend it never happened. I don’t know if you were high or just really out of it, but it’s done, let’s forget about it.”_

_Jongup raised his brow. “Out of it?”_

_“Do you have another explanation for that delusional episode?” Hongbin raised his brow in return._

_Jongup chuckled and for a moment, just a moment, Hongbin thought they were done with that talk, casually stepping on each other’s toes like he did with the others there. However, the younger was finding Jongup was not a man to just casually do anything._

_Hongbin had his hand on the door handle in a moment, in the next he found his back pressed onto the cold wall, his head throbbing slightly from the rough impact. Jongup had his face almost glued to Hongbin’s in a heartbeat, so close the younger could feel his warm breath on his lips as he began to speak._

_“I like games, but you’re driving me crazy. I see you teasing me around the house, Hongbin, the way you smile at N and Ken in front of me to make me jealous.” Caught off guard, the black-haired just listened, arms limp on his side from the shock. “How you put this expensive perfume because you know it will make me crazy, how you stand on the doorway of my room just staring at me, thinking about me how you know I’m thinking about you-”_

_Hongbin, in a late reflex, placed his hands on Jongup’s chest, trying to push him. The blond was there again a second after, arms on either side of his head and the younger grunted his teeth. Jongup thought he could disrespect him like that?_

_Hongbin let out a shaky breath. “You are- a troubled human being. You’re psychotic and you’re imagining things, Jongup, knock it off-” he crumpled his hands on the other’s shirt, getting a decent grip to push him, or knock him over, whatever would make him move away from his face the fastest._

_Before Hongbin could actually do it, the garden’s door opened and from it, appeared Leo. The hitman glanced around for a second, apparently looking for something, but his eyes shoot back to the two and widened when he saw what was happening._

_Leo stared and blinked once, twice, then seemed to snap out of it, clearing his throat. “Sorry, if I knew you would be here I would have knocked.”_

_Leo walked to where a white can rested hidden in a corner and grabbed it delicately between his fingers, not giving a second look to the scene before he went into the house again and closed the door behind him._

_Hongbin’s mouth gaped and he could feel the shock turning to anger, pushing Jongup again and that time gaining enough momentum to reach for the floor, where his phone and everything else had fallen from his hands when he had been roughly shoved against the wall._

_“You’re insane and delusional, stay the fuck away from me, I mean it,” Hongbin said, voice breaking, practically sprinting out of the garden._

Hongbin knew by telling Wonsik he would be worrying him, but they were in this together, and his brother had specifically told him to not hide anything from him. Everyday. Repetitively. He supposed letting that out might make him feel better.

He thought of his opening line, but nothing seemed good enough, so he guessed he would know what to say when he saw Wonsik’s face. Maybe he could take some time to think about that when he got into the apartment, since Wonsik would probably be drooling on top of a book when he got there. Or so he thought.

Hongbin walked casually through the hallway, getting his keys from inside his jacket once he reached the door, letting himself in without any ceremony.

“Oh my god!” Hongbin almost screamed as he peaked around the corner to see if Wonsik was sleeping on the bed, taking a step back and almost tripping on the couch.

What he saw was a very broad back, the pale skin smooth except for the big orange tree that lied between his shoulder blades. It wasn't a mystery that was Sanghyuk, and even if he didn’t know, the faded blue hair and the fact that his brother was straddling him with his face buried on his neck should be enough information to come to that conclusion.

Wonsik raised his eyes and when they locked in Hongbin’s, there was a whisper of a moment where panic reigned from both sides. Hongbin had thrown his keys on the couch as soon as he walked in, as he always did when he was over, so the best his mind could come up with was turning his back to the scene and pressing his face to the wall, praying to angels and demons, whoever heard him first, to grant him the ability to teleport out of there.

“Hongbin, what the fuck?” Wonsik pushed himself off his soulmate, his face paling at the same time his ears warmed.

Sanghyuk, confused out of his mind, turned his head and felt his heart sinking to his butt, because standing in the living room was a man, back turned to them as he squeezed his head between his hands. The blue-haired didn’t have enough time to process that information before he realized he was completely and utterly naked. And his soulmate’s brother had walked in and seen him.

“Oh my god, oh my god.” Sanghyuk desperately reached for a pillow so he could cover himself or maybe work a disappearing act and vanish from the face of the earth.

On hearing the unknown voice Hongbin panicked even further. “I’m _so_ sorry, Sanghyuk,” his voice broke and his face was so hot it felt like it was melting from his head. “I had no idea you were here, I’m sorry.”

Wonsik looked horrified, but he managed to get up from the bed, gladly still in his underwear, and walked to where his stupid brother was standing, pushing him to the door roughly. Once they were in the blind spot Hongbin turned to Wonsik.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I thought you were studying and I needed to talk to you and you didn’t pick up your phone, I’m so sorry,” Hongbin blabbered, mortified, his eyes trained to the man in front of him.

Wonsik punched his shoulder, not strong enough to hurt him. “So you just break in?! This is so not like you! Have you lost your mind?”

Hongbin buried his face in his hands again, so embarrassed he didn’t even know how to act. “I’m so sorry, Sikkie, I was really distracted with my own fucked up problem I didn’t think about it, I’m sorry.”

Suddenly it was like the whole situation hadn’t happened, Wonsik frowned. “Are you okay, did something happen?”

Hongbin lifted his eyes from behind his hands, glaring. “We can talk about it- later.”

Wonsik remembered just around the corned his soulmate must have been sitting on the bed, naked and mortified. “Sure, of course, let me get the keys.”

Wonsik walked to the couch, knowing that was where Hongbin’s keys probably were, glancing at the bed where there was a lump, a big lump, where Sanghyuk was hiding himself under the blankets, covered up to his head. The red-haired felt responsible for putting his soulmate in that situation, guilty, but still found the vision funny.

Hongbin saw Wonsik looking at his soulmate and he blushed even further. “Sanghyuk,” he called, his voice faltering at the end.

Sanghyuk closed his eyes, the last thing he wanted at that time was a conversation, or worse, an introduction. “Yes, Hongbin,” a low voice answered from underneath the sheets.

Hongbin cleared his throat. “When we meet next time, can we pretend this never happened? Erase this moment from our minds and start over.”

Sanghyuk didn’t hesitate a second before he replied. “God, yes, please, let’s never speak of this. Ever.”

Hongbin swallowed dry, nodding even if the blue-haired couldn’t see it. “If it’s of any consolation, I didn’t see anything.”

Sanghyuk snorted. “Thank you- but somehow, that’s not comforting.”

Hongbin huffed out a laugh, voice dripping with guilt. “I know, I just hoped it would help you, since I’ll be beating myself over this for months.”

Wonsik handed his brother his keys, quiet through the interaction, still in shock.

“Don’t, it’s okay,” the younger reassured kindly. “I didn’t see your face, you didn’t see mine, we can just pretend this happened with other people.”

Hongbin smiled. “Fine by me.”

Wonsik pushed his brother’s shoulder, wanting him to leave. Even if he had been dying for Hongbin and Sanghyuk to meet, that was not the way or the time.

Hongbin looked at Wonsik, he was visibly angry. Well, as angry as he could look. “I’m sorry.”

“I promise I won’t ever welcome myself into your apartment without previous notice,” Wonsik coached, wanting Hongbin to repeat.

The black-haired smiled, unlocking the door when Wonsik gave him the keys. “I promise I won’t ever welcome myself into your apartment without previous notice.”

Wonsik sighed, patting his shoulder lightly, as if he was saying he was forgiven. “I’ll call you to talk as soon as I can, okay?”

Hongbin nodded, stepping into the hallway. “Okay.” The silence stretched until the black-haired, surprisingly, opened up a smile. “He has some pretty wide shoulders,” he whispered so Sanghyuk wouldn’t hear and Wonsik raised his middle finger.

Hongbin snorted, waving an awkward goodbye before he rushed away, leaving Wonsik and Sanghyuk alone again after absolutely killing their mood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one took a while babes, i just got really insecure AND finals week AND i'm on holiday so, i guess i needed a break. but i'm back!! and i hope you liked it <3 
> 
>  
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/beanguni)


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last update of the year! thank you so so SO much for your love and support and kindness, it really means a lot to me, truly. happy new yearrr, enjoy the chapter

When Hongbin glanced down at his phone he frowned, a text from Wonsik. He looked to his friend, sitting on the floor at the other side of the room, head resting on their grandmother’s leg as she stroked his red locks lazily. _Call me to go upstairs with you_ , the text said.

Hongbin hadn’t even sat down yet, having just arrived from work, but took his friend’s request. “Sik, can you help me with something upstairs?” he asked and Wonsik looked at him and nodded, taking the woman’s hand and kissing it gently, thanking her for the caress before he got on his feet.

The woman looked at her grandson. “Is it work? You just got here, Bin, rest a bit, darling,” she said sweetly.

Hongbin smiled and shook his head. “It’s not work, grandma, don’t worry. I just have something to talk about with Sik.”

“You’re too full of secrets these days, you two.” She chuckled and they both shared the same thought as their eyes met, _you have no idea_.

Wonsik made sure to close the door behind them as soon as they reached the bedroom, not having a chance to start speaking before Hongbin went ahead of him.

“Is this about the Sanghyuk thing? Really, Sik, I didn’t see anything,” Hongbin said, trying to sound as truthful as he could.

Wonsik blushed remembering the ridiculous scene that had happened a few nights back. “N-No, it’s something else. But since we’re on the subject, Hyuk is effectively avoiding you now, he’s _so_ embarrassed.”

Hongbin sighed deeply. “I’ll apologize again when I officially meet him, that was my fault.”

“No, it’s better if you just pretend nothing happened like you said you would.” Wonsik focused on what he was doing so he wouldn’t have to look at his brother as they had the embarrassing talk. He cleared his throat, voice faint as he asked, “you really didn’t see anything?”

Hongbin huffed. “No, Sik. He had his back turned to me, I only saw the back of his head and- nothing else.” Wonsik choked and turned to face Hongbin, the black-haired noticed his cheeks were slightly pink.

Wonsik chose then to avoid the subject completely so he could maybe successfully ignore the will to run away from the room. “Why did you go over in first place? You said something had happened, but you didn’t answer my calls.”

“Sorry, I’ve been busy this last couple of days and I didn’t think we should talk about this over the phone.” Hongbin’s stomach turned with the sudden change of subject, his voice hesitant as he continued, “you know I don’t like to keep anything from you, right?”

Wonsik crossed his arms over his chest and arched his brow. “Right.”

“I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so I thought I should just drop by and tell you in person. You’ll be mad, I just know it, but you need to know-” Hongbin shifted on his feet and his nervousness started to make Wonsik tense too, so he interrupted.

“You’re making me nervous, just tell me.”

The other took a deep breath. “It’s Jongup-” Wonsik’s eyes widened, knowing the blond meant anything but good news. “He has been- giving me a hard time,” Hongbin tried to choose his words carefully as to not scare his brother.

“What did he do?” Wonsik asked in a whisper, almost scared of speaking louder.

Hongbin hesitated. “It’s just quite obvious he wants to have something with me and he’s been pushing it a little bit-” _A lot bit,_ but Wonsik didn’t need to know that. “So I was wondering if you could take a look into his phone again to check what he’s been saying to Youngjae, I feel like he knows everything, they’re always whispering and giggling behind my back.”

Wonsik shook his head, eyes still wide as he felt himself getting more and more worked up. “Bin, what did he do? Did he say something to you?”

Hongbin cleared his throat, holding his hands in front of his body in a formal manner. “He didn’t really say anything to me, he just- shoved me against a wall,” he murmured, partially hoping the other wouldn’t listen.

“He what?!” Wonsik screamed back, Hongbin flinched.

“Just- maybe tried to pin me against it. Oh, what’s in your notebook?” He tried to change the subject, but Wonsik didn’t buy it.

“Stop it! Did he hurt you?” Wonsik hovered close to his brother as if he was trying to check him for a bruise or any signs of physical aggression.

“Not the first time,” Hongbin answered and bit his tongue immediately, regretting the way he’d worded the phrase.

“The first time? How many times has he shoved you against a wall?” Wonsik asked, clearly not aware of how loud he was.

“Just the two, calm down, please.” Hongbin raised his palms trying to make him lower his voice, knowing that if anyone was out of the room they would be able to hear them.

“ _How_ did he hurt you, then?” Wonsik asked, his brows almost touching from the deepness of his frown.

“He pushed me hard and I hit my head, but I just had a little headache after, nothing much,” Hongbin tried to sound casual, leaving out the part when he relived the scene so many times in his head as he got home he got one of his stress-induced fevers.

“Sure, just a little headache, nothing much.” Wonsik huffed ironically as his hand went to rest on his hips like an Italian old lady and Hongbin had to keep himself from laughing. “What did he say to you?”

“He thinks we’re playing this seduction game-” Hongbin scoffed as he remembered, turning his eyes from how ridiculous that sounded. “I turn him down and he chases me kind of thing, he said something about me smiling at the others to make him jealous and wearing a perfume he likes to rile him up.”

“Oh my god, he’s actually insane.” Wonsik brought a hand to cover his open mouth.

“That’s what I told him, but I guess he didn’t like that, so the asshole shoved me a little too hard- but I handled it,” he added hurriedly since his brother looked concerned. “I just need you to get into his phone again to check if he’s been talking about this with anyone, if I can get into his head maybe I can keep that from happening again,” Hongbin finished with a smile like it was that simple.

Wonsik swallowed back the other questions he had and just sighed. “Fine, I’ll check it on my computer at home and I’ll tell you later.”

“Thanks, Sik. But you also seem to want to show me something?” He pointed to the computer and Wonsik blinked for a moment before he shifted his mind from one problem to the other. He was tired of having so many problems, he just wanted a vacation with Sanghyuk in Hawaii.

“Something’s up.” Wonsik pointed at the screen, which showed a bunch of words connected to each other by lines in different colors forming a sort of web, but Hongbin had never seen that before.

The other frowned, that meant nothing to him. “What? I don’t get it.”

“Remember when I told you about the surface, deep and dark web?” Wonsik asked and Hongbin raised his brow.

“Yeah, you told me they are layers of the internet, the surface is everyday use, deep is somewhat private and the dark web is anonymous,” Hongbin answered without giving it much thought, he remembered that much.

Wonsik had explained to Hongbin the way criminals used to communicate, sell and buy things without being made by others or the cops. Wonsik saw a chance to use that to their advantage. He just had to find a loophole.

Wonsik nodded. “Yes, exactly. Remember how I told you I couldn’t exactly track anyone’s location from the dark web?”

Hongbin’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, you figured how to do that?”

Wonsik snorted out a laugh and Hongbin was slightly offended, thinking he was being mocked. “No, but I managed to put a sort of tab on some words and names to keep track of the business. Things like ‘cocaine’, ‘drug scheme’, the Himeji’s names, Leo’s, Ken’s and N’s too- and yours, of course. If people mention it and it goes through the program I made to see what’s relevant and what’s not-”

“You made a program?” Hongbin sounded surprised.

Wonsik raised his brow. “Yeah, that’s how I could pull this trick off, I had to make a program that could do that, nothing like this existed before. It’s like the dark web’s google, I keep it running all the time and it sort of records everything?” He struggled with his words so Hongbin could somehow understand the basics of what he was saying. “Then later I can just search for words I want, quite simple, actually, don’t know how people hadn’t managed it before,” he said casually, Hongbin laughed.

He knew it was not simple at all, the whole point of the dark web was allowing the users to cover their tracks and keep hidden whilst they did their private (and probably illegal) business, but still, Wonsik had managed to build a program that gave him eyes inside.

“I was surprised it even worked at first, but I’ve tested it a bunch and it actually does, so that’s good.” Hongbin looked at him with a sort of admiration, so he added with a shy voice, “I had done something similar in uni before, it’s not a big deal.”

“Of course you did,” Hongbin said ironically.

Wonsik huffed out a laugh, face warm. “Point is, I’ve found one particular chat. The members in it kept mentioning the Himeji’s names all the time, so my program caught it and it went straight to my notifications.”

Hongbin frowned. “A chat? That sounds private, is it open for anyone to see?”

Wonsik snorted, almost endeared at how lost Hongbin was, his brother was truly clueless. “Of course not, I broke in.”

“Of course you did,” Hongbin repeated jokingly.

Wonsik smiled. “Anyway, they kept talking about Jongup and Himchan a lot, so I checked it out. I think I know who they are.”

“You managed to track them down? Like where they are?”

Wonsik shook his head. “There is no way I could without heavy equipment and unfortunately I don’t work for Korea’s Intelligence Agency- yet.”

Hongbin frowned. “So how do you know who they are?”

Wonsik smiled, answering patiently. “How else would I know who they are? I read the conversations, Bin. I had my suspicions, but then they kept talking about meth and a Hana came up, so I put two and two together.”

“Hana?” Hongbin took a moment to realize where he knew the name from. “BAP?”

Wonsik nodded. “Remember you told me to do some research on them? I did. They have some history with the Himeji, they used to be one gang and they split or something, everyone talks about it, criminals gossip _a lot_ more than you would expect when they know people can’t track them down.”

Hongbin’s mouth formed an O shape, realization hitting. “That matches with what I’ve heard them chatting in the house too. From what I got, Bang was the leader of BAP but something happened and he left. I’m pretty sure Zelo and YJ were a part of it too, that’s why they’re so against each other.”

Some things clicked in Wonsik’s mind too. “Oh, yeah, knowing that it makes sense why they hate Aka so much. Bang probably left because he marked, BAP’s dream is to kill his soulmate, they talk about revenge all the time.”

Hongbin twisted his nose in disapproval, he didn’t mind Aka, he was caring with his friends and seemed genuinely nice. The black-haired frowned at himself when he realized he was sympathizing with one of them, but he couldn’t help it, from what he’d seen, Aka was a nice person. Aside from being a criminal and probably an assassin, he was a nice person.

“I don’t think anyone would touch him, Bang would light Seoul on fire if they did,” Hongbin commented more to himself then to Wonsik, trying to bring some comfort.

The red-haired agreed. “Me neither. People are loyal to Bang still, BAP would lose a lot of allies. They just use this chat to talk casually, they don’t talk too much about business here.”

“So this is their chat, BAP’s chat,” Hongbin clarified, Wonsik nodded. “This is a really good advantage, Sik, we can keep track of the group’s biggest rivals.”

Wonsik smiled. “Exactly. They think they are being smart by hiding in anonymous, but they didn’t think anyone-” he pointed at himself, a sly smile on his lips. “Could ever create a tracking tool that could read their texts and break into their chatting room. Who needs locations when you have this.”

Hongbin huffed out a laugh when he saw how proud of himself his brother looked. “You’re so smart it’s annoying sometimes.”

“Not right now, I bet.”

Hongbin placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder, squeezing it gently in a form of acknowledging his effort. “Not at all,” Hongbin said.

Wonsik chuckled. “Well, if they plan something and use this chat for it, we will know about it.”

Hongbin sighed, relieved, there was nothing like having a heads up on a situation, going in the dark could be stressful. “And the police, still nothing?”

“I can’t break into their system as often as I do this chat, it’s more dangerous, but as far as I can tell from my last check, nothing there either.”

“Good, thank goodness.” He hesitated. “Why are BAP talking about Himeji so much, though? Are they suspecting something?”

“Well- they know the Himeji are up to something, that’s for sure.” Hongbin raised a brow, that didn’t sound that bad. “They’ve heard rumors about Leo and Ken working with them and that rose some questions,” Wonsik said cautiously.

“Why?” Hongbin asked, noticing the change in the other’s tone.

Wonsik bit his lip. “They are kind of expensive to hire, you could say. I think when Bang said they were the best, he wasn’t joking, they are actually one of the top hired assassins in Seoul right now.” The red-haired looked worriedly at his friend, knowing he met those men every day.

Hongbin sighed. “I know, I figured.”

Being in the house so regularly helped Hongbin understand how the criminal world worked, to some extent. He was very perceptive and the others in the house just happened to feel comfortable enough around themselves to talk freely, it wasn’t hard to catch up. Hongbin knew how much Leo and Ken scared people, he knew how much power Bang still had and he knew how unusual the partnership between the Himeji and the Golden Duo was. Leo and Ken didn’t work for anyone other than Jisoo, their people-shit-their-pants-out-of-fear-on-his-sight boss.

“Jongup may be giving you a hard time, but please be aware of them too, their reputation is huge and it’s not for them being kind,” Wonsik said and Hongbin pursued his lips.

The black-haired knew right that second he looked very guilty, because Wonsik shot him a look that spoke volumes. First the red-haired was surprised, then he frowned, then he looked angry.

“Did any of them tried something on you too? I swear to god, Hongbin, this is stressing me out so much, can’t you go to that house without showering or something? Make them disgusted enough that they’ll ignore your face? Holy shit,” Wonsik whined, fingers pressing his temples, obviously distressed.

“They didn’t try anything on me, Sik, I’ve just-” he interrupted himself and Wonsik raised his eyes.

“You’ve just?” Wonsik insisted when the other didn’t reply.

“I’ve just been fighting with one of them a bit,” he murmured.

Wonsik whined again, about to stomp his feet like an unpleased child. “Bin!” Hongbin bit his lip. “I told you _so many times_ to not create heat with any of them, what happened?”

Hongbin sighed. “He’s annoying! He kept trying to push my buttons in front of everyone, so I followed him to the garden once and we talked and-” Wonsik buried his face on his hands. “We’ve been arguing daily ever since,” Hongbin confessed his sin.

“Oh my god, you’re an idiot. You told me Leo had called you names, you didn’t say you confronted him about it! Is it him?” Wonsik squeezed his temples again.

“Yes, it’s him.”

“Great, the one everyone is most scared of, just great, Hongbin.”

“He’s not scary, he’s petty and annoying,” he mumbled, shrugging his shoulders.

Wonsik made his eyes wide, shaking his head in an exaggerated movement. “So? Is it worth taking a bullet because he is annoying?”

Hongbin huffed out a laugh. “He wouldn’t shoot me, please, we are working together. Everyone steps on each other's toes there, it’s normal.”

“Maybe because they are all criminals!” he said loudly, but made his voice lower to continue. “You are an outsider, don’t mess with them. What is the matter with you? You’re usually put together, why are you acting like a kid this time?”

Hongbin frowned, unhappy about Wonsik apparently siding with the dangerous hitman he’d never met and not his best friend. “You’re really keeping me in here to tell me off?”

Wonsik frowned. “No, I’m keeping you here to tell you BAP is planning something shady,” he said more harshly than what he had intended.

Hongbin took a deep breath, speaking calmly. “Tell me, then.”

Wonsik calmed down too, but his brother knew he hadn’t dropped that subject for good yet. “They know the Himeji are planning something big, the word is out that they will run into a lot of money, so the BAP are trying to find a way to confront them and make them tell what is going on. Maybe even get in too and get a slice.”

“But they don’t even get along enough to be in the same room, how does BAP plan to have this talk? Just call them up casually and ask?” Hongbin asked, confused.

“They are planning to run into them ‘accidentally’,” Wonsik made air quotes.

“When?”

“Tomorrow,” Wonsik answered promptly.

“Where?” Hongbin asked before the other could even finish, obviously eager.

Wonsik spoke with a calming voice, “I only know the name, but Bin, I had an idea on how to turn this around, if you agree with me, we can make this happen.”

Hongbin tipped his head curiously and nodded, and with that Wonsik started to break down the plan he had come up with.

\--

Taekwoon almost couldn’t believe when he looked at who was calling, glancing repetitively at the screen of his phone before he pulled over to pick up.

“Hello?” he answered, voice usually dull when talking business spiced with a hint of curiosity.

“Are you with Ken?” Hongbin spared all flourish, going straight to the point.

Taekwoon frowned. “No, is there something wrong?”

“No- well, kind of.” Hongbin made a pause and watched Wonsik, who stood arms crossed in front of him monitoring the way he was speaking, ready to pull on his ear if he teased Leo in any way. “Can I meet you somewhere?”

Taekwoon blinked a few times, wondering if he’d heard the question correctly. “Meet me,” he echoed with a questioning tone.

“Yes, did I stutter?” Hongbin said rudely before he could stop himself and Wonsik glared at him.

Taekwoon exhaled deeply. “Hongbin, what’s going on?”

“I called Ken, but he didn’t pick up so you will have to do,” Taekwoon almost snorted at how casually he’d said Ken was his first choice. Wonsik reached for his friend’s ear and pulled it, so Hongbin continued with a more friendly tone, “I mean, something came up that I need to go over with you as soon as possible, is it okay for us to meet somewhere now?”

Taekwoon noticed the change in his voice, definitely kinder than he was used coming from the younger. “Sure. Are you alone?”

“Yes. I was thinking Namsan Park if you’re somewhere near it.”

“I could meet you there in about 25 minutes,” Taekwoon said after glancing at his watch.

“I’ll wait for you at the pavilion,” Hongbin said. He was 10 minutes from the park himself, so that would give him time to go over the plan with Wonsik one more time before he left.

“See you there,” the older said and turned off the call.

Taekwoon started to make his way to their meeting spot, making a mental reminder to send his partner a text telling him where he was going. Jaehwan and Taekwoon had made a habit out of telling each other where they were if something work related came up, it was good to know where your partner was if he got in trouble.

When Taekwoon arrived at the park he walked at a calm pace, the light traffic having given him time to spare. It was a nice night, the sky was clear and the breeze cold and typical of early spring. There was a surprising amount of people in the park considering how late it was, a lot of couples holding hands and sitting at the many coffees and restaurants in the area he was going through.

Taekwoon spotted the pavilion from a distance, and immediately started to look around to maybe spot Hongbin somewhere nearby. It was beautiful, the stone staircase that led to the traditional Korean structure contrasting with the modern red-lit Seoul Tower behind it. It had been a while since Taekwoon had been there, especially at night, so he took a moment to appreciate it, walking slowly up the steps as he took notice of the details. When he reached the top, he caught a glimpse of someone familiar.

Hongbin was away from the pavilion itself, choosing to lean over the stone railing so he could watch over the city view, lost in his own thoughts. There was no way Taekwoon could miss him, still wearing the long red coat he had on earlier, the black turtleneck peeking from it.

After the first time they had all met, Jaehwan had described Hongbin as someone who smelled like money, and that still seemed true to Taekwoon, Hongbin was always in clean-cut clothing and big expensive watches, a complement to his classic elegant beauty and manners.

There wasn’t anyone around Hongbin since most people chose to stay in an area that had proper lighting, but the younger didn’t seem to mind the darkness, eyes glazed as he observed the moving lights of the city below him. Taekwoon made his way over quietly, almost stealthily, watching Hongbin the whole way. He would never admit to anyone, but stripped from his aggressive persona, Hongbin could be quite attractive.

The older also leaned on the railing and stared straight up front in a mimic of the other’s posture, putting a good distance between them as he waited for Hongbin to acknowledge his arrival. To Taekwoon’s surprise, he didn’t, seemingly too fascinated by the view to notice anything around him, so the hitman turned his head to watch him and maybe grab his attention.

Hongbin was indeed beautiful to Taekwoon, obnoxious and spoiled, but absolutely stunning. He had a relaxed expression the older had never seen on his face before, chin tipped upwards as if he liked the breeze hitting his face, eyes opening and closing lazily as he held the railing lightly in his hands. Hongbin had a hint of a smile on his lips, the dimple only slightly denting his cheek and if Taekwoon couldn’t help but admire him, his perfectly straight nose, his glowy skin reflected by the faint gleam of the moonlight.

Upon seeing him like this, Taekwoon couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person Hongbin really was.

Hongbin took a deep breath, and it was like he had emerged from his trance to some level, noticing for the first time he had company. The younger turned his head slowly and his eyes found Taekwoon’s, his expression changing to almost terror, bringing a hand to his chest protectively.

“Oh my god, you scared the shit out of me,” he whispered and took another deep breath, trying to calm his suddenly erratic heart. “Why would you sneak up on someone like that, Leo? Son of a b-”

Taekwoon didn’t say anything, watching the younger put on his snobby posture right before his eyes. He may not like Hongbin, but there was no denying he was an interesting man, that was nothing like the soft-looking person he had been watching only seconds before.

“Have you been staring for long, you massive creep?” Hongbin asked, hand still over his heart, trying to calm himself and forgetting all about the promise he’d made Wonsik to not step on Leo’s toes anymore.

Taekwoon huffed, wondering how come he was with Hongbin for less than a minute and he was already imagining how lovely it would be to see him slipping on a puddle and falling on his butt. “What happened, rich boy?”

Hongbin turned his eyes, he saw that coming. The younger looked around to see if there was anyone nearby, keeping his voice low as a precaution. “Problems. We have some people wanting to pry into our business.”

“Who?”

“BAP,” Hongbin whispered.

Taekwoon huffed out a laugh. “Already? It’s been like a month.”

Hongbin sighed, nodding lightly. “Yeah, the Hana girl is nosy indeed, they have been doing some research, asking around, eventually they found something was up. They know you and Ken are in on it already.”

Taekwoon pouted his lips lightly, Hongbin’s eyes traveled to it in a reflex, but he brought it up quickly. “I expected that much, word travels fast.” _Criminals gossip so much,_ Hongbin thought, biting his tongue back to avoid the comment. “What have you got?”

“They are planning on ‘accidentally’ running into Bang and Aka tomorrow and corner them.” The younger’s eyes were at the distant lights of the city again, avoiding Taekwoon’s heavy stare. Always intense, it seemed the hitman looked right through him, and it bothered Hongbin sometimes. “They don’t know anything yet, but they are hoping to find out everything tomorrow, force them to speak. They think the fact that they’ll be outnumbered and caught off guard will be enough to intimidate the two.”

Taekwoon raised his brow. “How do you know all of this?”

Hongbin smiled. “You underestimate me so much, Leo. My job is to keep an eye on everything and everyone.” His eyes left the view just for a moment so he could deliver the rest of his sentence. “I’m good at my job.”

Taekwoon almost scoffed. “Fine, fair enough. You said it was tomorrow, do you know where?”

“That’s where I’m a bit confused. They kept calling the meeting place ‘Purgatory’, but I couldn’t find anywhere in the city that’s called that, so I thought it could be slang for something, does it make sense to you?”

Taekwoon nodded. “Yes, it’s a pub downtown.”

Hongbin frowned. “Are you sure? I really looked everywhere for that name.”

“It’s not actually called Purgatory, that’s how we call it,” Taekwoon explained. “There are two separate parts to the pub, one everyone can access, we call it Heaven, and another for people who have names on the list, criminals, mostly, so we call it Hell.”

“Creative.” Hongbin laughed, shaking his head. He got the implied idea that everyone on one side was going to heaven and on the other to hell, but he thought it was stupid to assume everyone at the Heaven side was good, he knew how people could suck.

Taekwoon huffed out a laugh. “Yeah. Since the police didn’t catch up yet, they started calling the place Purgatory to protect it.”

“Don’t the normals don’t bump into the criminals?” Hongbin joked, his expression filled with amusement. Taekwoon thought his choice of words was interesting.

“It’s kind of a first-floor second-floor type situation. Hell is above heaven-” Hongbin was further amused by that, opening a big smile. “We just get to watch the normals doing their normal things for our personal satisfaction.” He used the same term the younger had, joking with him and Hongbin was almost shocked by it.

“I bet you see all kinds of normal stuff there.” Hongbin chuckled and Taekwoon was surprised, he had never heard the younger sound so genuine around him. He realized he was smiling at the sound too, silence falling between them after.

Hongbin avoided the older’s eyes, staring at the view again. He cleared his throat. “Anyway- they heard Bang and Aka are going there tomorrow so they are planning to go too.”

Hongbin could feel the heavy stare on him again. “Okay, so we can just tell them not to go.”

Hongbin shook his head. “I have a better idea.” Taekwoon turned to face him completely, listening. “Let’s say I were to give you some info that no one from outside BAP should know.”

“What kind of info?” he asked, hesitant.

“Places and times they use for drop-offs of their stuff, suppliers names… their real names.” Hongbin gave a few examples, but he had more than that. A lot more.

The younger was so surprised when he heard Leo laugh his eyes turned to check for themselves. “I did underestimate you.” Hongbin felt a small smile crawl up his lips from the satisfaction he got, but he bit it back. “So how do you want to go about this?” he asked, unaware of how Hongbin loved to hear just that, people asking him to tell them what to do.

Hongbin then started to share the plan he and Wonsik had come up with. “We will tell Aka and Bang what’s going on and let them go on their date, or whatever it is they had planned. When Kwon, Hana, Lisa, and Nile-” He tried to remember the names he’d been shown correctly, momentarily distracted from Taekwoon’s surprised face from him knowing that much. “Go in to corner them, you and Ken show up. I hear people are scared of you,” he tried not using a sarcastic tone, but it was too hard to resist. Leo didn’t seem to mind it that time. “So keep it up.”

“Ken and I pop up, say enough to make them think they have a weak link leaking information from the inside and leave.” Taekwoon caught up with the younger’s plan.

Hongbin nodded in agreement. “The more time they spend trying to figure out who the snitch in their gang is, the less time they spend bothering us.”

There was a short silence, Hongbin glanced to the older to check what was that about. “Are you sure this source of yours is reliable?” Taekwoon asked when he caught Hongbin’s eyes, his stare piercing, but not meant to be intimidating.

Hongbin’s heart sped up regardless, bothered by the idea of someone even suspecting Wonsik was helping him. “My source is me, Leo, I have my ways.”

Taekwoon tipped his head and Hongbin’s heart raced even more, pressing his hands together so the older couldn’t see them shake. “Be careful who you drag into this, Hongbin, the Himeji wouldn’t like to know you’re doing stuff behind their back.” His voice was soft, whisper-like, but paired with those scanning cat eyes it just didn’t add up.

“Are you threatening me?” Taekwoon could see Hongbin change in front of him once again, his voice deepening, his lips tensing.

Taekwoon shook his head. “Not at all, just saying they wouldn’t _just_ give you a warning like me.”

Hongbin huffed. “How is that not a threat, Leo?”

Taekwoon smirked, voice dripping with disdain. “I’m just giving you a friendly heads up, I’ve known your boyfriend longer than you have and he is very vengeful, I can assure you.” Hongbin frowned confused before Taekwoon continued with his serene tone, “if Jongup finds out you’re bringing people in without talking to him or Bang first he’ll lose his mind, and trust me, you don’t want to see that.”

Hongbin felt his ears warming, remembering what Leo had walked in on. “There is no one helping me, Leo, I told you, I have my ways,” he said, staring into the other’s eyes defensively. “And there is nothing between Jongup and me,” he added.

“You’re lying,” Taekwoon said with a smile, tipping his head in that way that made Hongbin’s heart react. And it did.

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,” Taekwoon argued like a fifth-grader.

“Ken is so nice, why would he even date someone like you,” Hongbin said intending to sound like he was mocking, but it came out sounding bitter.

Taekwoon scoffed. “Can’t say that about your boyfriend, you and Jongup belong to each other,” the older spat, also sounding more bitter than what he had intended.

There was a buzz in Taekwoon’s pocket and he broke eye contact just so he could look for his phone. Hongbin held himself from exhaling loudly in relief from the conversation having ended. When Taekwoon looked at the caller he realized he had forgotten to text his fake boyfriend about the slight change of plans.

“Hi,” Taekwoon answered, expecting the complaints to start from the other side.

“Did you get lost? I’m hungry, Hyuk’s hungry, Hakyeon’s dying!” he said dramatically. “What’s taking you so long?”

“Hongbin couldn’t get a hold of you so he called me,” he said simply, staring at Hongbin as he spoke. The younger seemed unfazed by the mention of his name, like he wasn’t even listening, but there was no relaxed expression on his face then.

“Wait- you’re with Hongbin? Is something wrong? Why didn’t you tell me?” He shot one question after the other, Taekwoon let him stop to breathe so he could answer.

“He needed to talk to me, we’re alone. I’ll explain to you later.”

Jaehwan exhaled loudly. “Fine. Where are you?”

“Namsan Park.”

“Will you come back soon?” Taekwoon could tell there was worry in his tone, like Jaehwan thought there might be a possibility of something escalating and his partner being alone to deal with it.

“Yes, Ken,” he answered again and when the younger heard the nickname he realized Hongbin was close to Taekwoon, it was not good to keep the conversation long.

“Ok. Bring me my ravioli,” he said and Taekwoon huffed out a laugh.

“Bye.”

Hongbin leaned away from the railing and looked at Leo again. Taekwoon’s hair was moving slowly from the calm breeze, made Hongbin wonder if he wasn’t cold from wearing that many silver accessories, especially the shiny silver body chain he could see peeking from the open buttons of his white shirt, resting on his collarbones.

When he thought about it, Hongbin couldn’t recall not seeing Leo wearing something that made a statement, he was bold when it came to clothes. The younger had seen from leather harnesses to chokers, to a variety of heeled boots. Maybe that’s what made Hongbin’s eyes always trail back to him, like the intense energy the older had was calling out to his own. Subconsciously Hongbin assumed that’s why he wanted to tease Leo so much, other from the fact that he would find him annoying too, there was something different about the older, enticing.

That, and the intense stare he often gave from his cat eyes and soft angel-looking face, which Hongbin realized he was receiving in the silence that fell between the two.

“You like to stare at me a lot. What’s that interesting about me?” Hongbin asked ironically, seemingly ignoring the fact he’d been staring too.

“Other than the fact that you managed to fit your inflated ego through that turtleneck this morning? Nothing.” Taekwoon answered in a heartbeat, like he knew it was coming.

Hongbin turned his eyes. “Said the most obnoxious person I’ve ever met. I was surprised you even took my call at all when you’re too good to even look at me back at the house,” he said, ignoring the imaginary ear-pulls he was getting from Wonsik right that second.

Taekwoon gave him an ironic pout, Hongbin was taken aback again by the sudden show of emotion. “Did I hurt your feelings?”

Hongbin snorted, not believing that for a second that night he thought they might actually get along. “Don’t think you’re that important.”

“Right, I keep forgetting about your superiority complex, sorry, rich boy,” Taekwoon provoked, brushing his hair back nonchalantly.

Hongbin found himself upset at how relaxed the hitman seemed, the older was able to push his buttons too easily. The younger’s hands were shaking with anger, he felt a lump going up his throat and he just wanted to give Leo an earful.

“At least I don’t have a god complex like you who thinks you have rights over people’s lives, right?” he spat back the first thing his rage told him too, not giving his words much thought.

However, Hongbin realized he had said the wrong thing when the older’s eyes snapped back in his and his expression darkened, definitely wanting to intimidate him. For a whisper of a moment, the younger thought he had seen Taekwoon’s hand twitch and his mind feared the hitman would wrap those long fingers around his throat and squeeze it as a punishment for his audacity.

Taekwoon took a step forward, but unexpectedly, Hongbin didn’t take one back. Maybe he was too scared to move, scared of a Leo he had never seen before. “You talk too much, Hongbin, I’ve told you this before.” The older’s voice came from down his throat. Low. Dangerous. Every hair at the back of Hongbin’s neck stood up.

Leo wouldn’t normally look that angrily at Hongbin, the hitman was sarcastic and quick on his feet, always looking like he had it all figured out. But not at that moment. At that moment Hongbin had said the right thing to get under his thick skin, to strike a note inside of him that stirred and brought up his worst emotions.

The younger’s courage wavered for a passing moment when Taekwoon gave him that piercing stare, when he leaned towards him. “You intend on shutting me up then? Shoot me like you do everyone else? Do you think you have rights over my life too?” he asked before his fear forbade him to.

The blood rose to Taekwoon’s head, blinded by anger upon hearing the words no one had ever dared to say to him before. The words he didn’t even allow himself to think about.

“Maybe I’ll put you on your knees and shoot you from a distance, I wouldn’t want to dirty my hands with your blood,” Taekwoon replied coldly, impulsive and Hongbin felt a chill go down his spine. He stumbled back on his feet, his instincts telling him to move away from the danger.

Taekwoon’s anger dissipated when he saw the genuine and undeniable fear in the other’s eyes. What was he doing? Threatening to take a person’s life because he would speak his mind? Did he actually give life that low value now? The younger didn’t pose a threat to Taekwoon in any way and yet he’d just told him he would kill him for doing as little as rubbing him the wrong way.

That was just Hongbin, spoiled, reckless and with no idea of what he was doing. Yet, he was managing to burn through his normally endless patience with a simple phrase, giving him what no one did: honesty. Pure, unfiltered and impulsive. Impulsive like his own answer, because the moment he finished saying the words he realized he would never have it in him to make them happen.

His throat tightened when he saw Hongbin looking at him like everyone else did, with fear, terror. Every cell in his body hated that, he didn’t want that. Not from Hongbin.

“I have nothing else to say, you can go,” Hongbin whispered, avoiding Taekwoon’s eyes. “We’ll talk to them tomorrow.”

Taekwoon felt guilt creeping up on him, opening his mouth and closing it before he noticed there was nothing he could, or should say. He spun on his feet and left, walking to the direction he had come from without saying anything else.

The hitman glanced back when he was far enough from Hongbin, and he could swear his stomach turned at the sight. Hongbin’s hand was over his chest again, something Taekwoon had learned he did when he was terrified.

Terrified of him.

He didn’t want that. Not from Hongbin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh taek... why would u do that man sighs
> 
> follow me let's be friends [twitter](https://twitter.com/beanguni)


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took forever to give you guys an update, but i truly needed a break to sort a few things. now i'm back to my routine, so hbas is back too! <3
> 
> hope you enjoy this one, no point in coming back after this much time and just give you a chill chapter right........ screams are accepted here [twitter](https://twitter.com/beanguni)

“Maybe we should get in a taxi and go somewhere else, this is not happening, Tae,” Wonsik said to his friend. The blond crossed his arms on top of his chest in protest, pouting.

“I really want Sanghyuk to go to this place,” Taemin pointed to the door that led to the nightclub, “he would love it here,” he murmured, leaning into his boyfriend for comfort, obviously upset.

Jongin chuckled and wrapped his arms around him. “I love how you talk like you know him already.” Taemin shot him a disapproving look, but it softened when his boyfriend kissed his cheek.

“It’s okay, I’m having fun,” Sanghyuk reassured the blond, flashing him a smile. “I promise you I will also have fun in the place we actually manage to get in.” He motioned to the long line of people waiting to get in, trying to make a point.

Taemin sighed loudly and nodded, accepting defeat, it was obvious they were not getting in any time soon. “I know another place, it’s not too crowded and the music there is good too,” he said.

The friends ended up agreeing to go to Taemin’s new pick even if none of them had even heard of it before, just wanting him to be happy again, and jumped into a taxi. Sanghyuk was pleasantly surprised when they got there and there was no line to get in, it was chilly that night.

The music was not loud to the point they couldn’t talk and they settled on a table in the corner, most people crammed into the dancefloor away from them.

Sanghyuk was shy at first, the outsider in a close friends’ group, but Taemin and Jongin were very nice and effectively trying to make him feel welcome, so after a few drinks he started swaying his body to the beat as they talked and laughed, already comfortable in each other’s presence.

“So, how did you two meet?” the blue-haired asked. “Wonsik told me you are best friends from school, but didn’t say anything about how you two got together,” he motioned to the couple.

“We met in school too, like a year before Wonsik moved to our class, Taemin and I have been inseparable since we’ve met.” Jongin shot his boyfriend an affectionate look and he leaned into him immediately, Sanghyuk almost cooed at them.

“Yes, every since we marked we’ve been inseparable, best friends and all that,” Taemin said and winked at Sanghyuk, suddenly he was confused.

“You’re soulmates?” Sanghyuk asked. “Wonsik didn’t mention it.”

Sanghyuk instinctively looked for their bond, the energy still faint considering they were not too familiar with each other yet, but still present since the couple had warmed up and opened up to him quickly.

The younger frowned when he found the bond and delved into it, the magic not what he was expecting. Taemin’s was as loud and flashy as a siren, Jongin’s was quiet and slow like a lazy river stream, completely different, it didn’t make sense.

Taemin smiled as he watched Sanghyuk’s face. “Yes, but- destiny has it that we are platonic.”

Sanghyuk’s eyes widened and suddenly it clicked, of course, perfect opposites.

“Oh, sure, platonic soulmates. I just assumed you were high school sweethearts, didn’t know you had a fate mark,” he said with a cautious tone, justifying his surprised face, not wanting to seem rude. “So you’ve been dating since then? That’s a long time.”

Both Jongin and Taemin exchanged relieved looks at his reaction, even though Wonsik had told them Sanghyuk was nice, he could still judge them for being together, like most people did. Sanghyuk showed no sign of judgment, just plain confusion, then understanding and curiosity.

“No, our heads were still a mess back then,” Jongin said, taking a sip on his drink.

Platonic bonds were not built to make perfect romantic relationships, that was why romantic soulmates existed in the first place. However, that did not mean platonic soulmates couldn’t work as a couple.

As far as Sanghyuk understood it was all a matter of probability, romantic soulmates were most likely to work romantically then platonic soulmates were.

Sanghyuk had never seen Jaehwan as anything else other than a friend, their bond was truly platonic, but the younger was learning his case was actually the exception, not the rule. The system was not as black and white, society just labeled it and tried to make it look like so.

Wonsik sighed and turned his eyes. “They did flirt all the way through high school, you can only imagine how difficult it was for me.”

Taemin laughed, reaching for his friend and locking arms with him, appreciative. “That’s actually true, the three of us were always together. Wonsik had to handle a lot of teen angst from us,” the blond said.

Sanghyuk chuckled. “How was that for you?” he asked his soulmate jokingly.

Wonsik smiled, reaching for Taemin’s hand on his arm and patting it gently, caring. “Hell, but I managed for them. I wish it had been high school, though. The reason why it was so hard on my ears and sanity was that they _didn’t_ date,” Wonsik said dramatically, Jongin snorted but agreed, his best friend has been through a lot because of him and his boyfriend. “They got stuck in the denial phase for years, mon chéri.”

Taemin nodded. “Yeah, we met when we were 15 and got together at 20, so five years of hardcore denial.”

“Five years?” Sanghyuk was shocked, his eyes widening. “You managed to fight your feelings for five whole years seeing each other every day for most of it? That’s some will power.”

“We did have some slip ups, but we would blame it on the alcohol and moved on, we were too scared to ruin our bond,” Taemin said and shrugged, Sanghyuk could relate to that in some level, he would probably be scared of something like that getting between him and Jaehwan.

“I would never have managed to hide my feelings for that long, I suck at lying,” Sanghyuk said. “It’s really bad.” He laughed.

“We didn’t hide it well at all, Hyuk, when it got to our senior year-” Jongin got interrupted by Wonsik sighing heavily, like it was the hardest year of his entire life, Sanghyuk chuckled at his reaction. Jongin turned his eyes and continued, “in our senior year, we would hook up every week and just pretend it never happened the next day.”

Wonsik snorted. “You pretended nothing happened just between the two of you, of course, because you would come to me freaking out every single time,” Wonsik clarified, sounding like he was scolding his friends. Sanghyuk snorted and pulled his soulmate closer, comforting him from the frustrating memories.

“That must have been hard, my love,” Sanghyuk said ironically, but Wonsik didn’t even notice his tone, thinking he was serious.

“Thank you, it was hard! I just wanted them to get together once and for all, but nothing I said worked, so I just had to deal with it.” Wonsik pouted and Sanghyuk laughed, kissing his cheek after, he could be so dramatic.

“What made you change your mind?” Sanghyuk asked the couple, interested in the story.

“Hongbinie.” The three friends laughed after Taemin spoke, the younger didn’t get it. The blond noticed Sanghyuk’s confused look and explained, “he thinks the system is meaningless, he doesn’t believe a mark should tell us who to love or build a relationship with. About two years ago I was dating a guy and Nini went to cry to him about it, so Bin had a serious talk with him, telling him to just confront me about our feelings.”

Jongin snorted. “More like a 30-minute monologue of how stupid Tae and I are,” he said and laughed, remembering how many times Hongbin had called him an idiot that night.

Taemin smiled too. “Worked, didn’t it?”

Jongin nodded. “It did, but he literally scolded me for half an hour telling me to just do it, that Tae liked me too, that we were wasting time we should be together.” Regardless of being upset at his friend at the time for being ‘rude’, Jongin smiled at the memory, knowing how much he owed Hongbin for that.

“Hongbinie was the one that gave Nini the courage to confess his feelings, he is the reason why we’re together,” Taemin said.

Sanghyuk chuckled. “That’s odd, from what Wonsik told me about him I thought he wasn’t into romance at all.”

Wonsik shook his head and a slight smug appeared on his lips. “That’s what he says, but my theory is that he dreams of having a soulmate.”

Jongin snorted, amused by the statement. “You’ve met Hongbin, right?”

“We grew up together, Nini, I know what I’m talking about.” The red-haired puffed his chest, filled with confidence. “I’ve told him this before and now I’m telling you, he will act like a complete idiot once he finally falls in love with someone, he will spoil his boy rotten with jewelry and presents.”

It was Taemin’s time to scoff. “You think he’ll end up with a _guy_? Hongbin is going to settle for a _girl_ , someone uncle Joo thinks it will look nice next to him in the papers once he takes over the company.”

Wonsik smiled at the rim of his cup. “No, he isn’t, I know him. He’s gonna fall for this guy and will finally admit he wants kids and cats and a fairytale ending.”

Both Taemin and Jongin burst in laughter. “You’re out of your mind!”

Wonsik gave the blond a smug smile, leaning towards him. “We could bet, but I know how much of a sore loser you are.”

Taemin leaned over the table too, Jongin and Sanghyuk leaned away from it. “How much, Kim?”

Wonsik narrowed his eyes, staring into Taemin’s. “Fifty thousand?”

“Please, who do you think I am? A hundred thousand won at least,” Taemin challenged.

Wonsik chuckled, offering his hand, wiggling his fingers as a form of teasing. “It’s your money, Lee.”

Taemin took it and shook on the bet, staring silently into his friend’s eyes. Sanghyuk laughed at how serious they seemed and turned to Jongin. “Do they do this often?” he asked.

Jongin sighed. “Act like idiots? Daily,” he said casually and got glared at by the other two.

Wonsik was starting to get tipsy, so he decided it was time to dance. The pub was organized in a way that the tables were in a darker more quiet space under the second floor and there was a wide busy dance floor open to judgment from the sober people on the balcony. And that was, of course, exactly were Wonsik wanted to go.

The red-haired managed to drag his friends to the busier part of the wide dance floor, so many people and the music so loud they didn’t even try to continue a conversation. Wonsik threw his arms around Sanghyuk’s neck and dragged the younger on his rhythm, the alcohol making him loose and confident enough to do so.

Sanghyuk chuckled, placing his hands on the older’s waist and pulling him to speak next to his ear. “You’re actually a good dancer.”

“You’re not so bad yourself.” Wonsik beamed at him from close, very close, actually holding himself from pulling the blue-haired into an ardent kiss right then.

“The fact that you said that just proved how much you actually like me,” Sanghyuk joked and Wonsik chuckled. “Your friends are amazing, I really like them,” the younger commented, now they couldn’t hear them.

“I think they like you too.” Wonsik glanced to the side where he saw Taemin and Jongin dancing with wide smiles on their faces, wrapped around each other without a care in the world.

“They are funny,” Sanghyuk pointed out, seeing Taemin send him a flying kiss once he saw them watching.

Wonsik smiled, he had his perfect soulmate and his friends with him, they were drinking, having fun and bonding, he was bursting with happiness.

Nothing could ruin his night.

“What are you thinking about?” Sanghyuk asked after he saw the other’s distant eyes. Wonsik shook himself off his sappy thoughts, turning his attention to the blue-haired again.

“Nothing, I’m just happy you’re here,” he said and caressed the back of Sanghyuk’s neck.

The younger pulled him closer and Wonsik’s heart raced immediately, fluttering in his chest with the view of his soulmate leaning in. Sanghyuk kissed him softly despite the place they were in, the rapid beat of the song not interfering with his pace at all. Wonsik let himself be kissed, feeling his body giving into Sanghyuk without him even realizing, his hand going through the other’s hair and his eyes squeezing shut like he wanted to forget anything that wasn’t the two of them at that moment.

When Sanghyuk opened his eyes and pulled away he could see Wonsik looking at him like he was butter in a warm summer day, melting. He smiled, pecking the other’s lips gently before loosening his arms from around his soulmate’s back.

His expression was blissful and his heart content. At that moment, the thought that ‘nothing could ruin this night’ went through his head just like it had gone through Wonsik’s.

And that was the exact the moment his night began to be ruined.

When the younger leaned away, he happened to look up to the second floor of the bar, where surprisingly enough there were people pointing to his direction.

Sanghyuk didn’t recognize them at first, but when he did his heart skipped a beat, his mouth dried and he felt like the ground under him had turned into sinking sand. He pushed Wonsik off him immediately, so sudden and unexpected the older stumbled back and bumped on Taemin and Jongin behind him. Wonsik frowned, confused, before noticing his soulmate had a distressed look on his face.

Sanghyuk had accidentally made the situation much worse, because when the three stepped closer and surrounded him to check if he was okay, the people on the second floor observed them attentively.

He felt his face paling, his hands starting to shake and one thought going through his head repeatedly: _I need to take Wonsik out of here. I need to take them out of view. Now._

“Are you okay?” he heard Taemin’s voice through the loud music. The blond placed a hand on his arm, Sanghyuk’s eyes widened even further.

He felt his throat tightening, he wanted to cry, to run, to get out of there. Suddenly the music was deafening, he felt like he couldn’t breathe, like he couldn’t move. Wonsik’s eyes found his and guilty struck, he seemed so worried.

“I need to go outside and catch some fresh air,” Sanghyuk blurted out the words, glancing up at the balcony and down at Wonsik repeatedly, the stare heavy on him from both ends.

The woman on the second floor had a grin he wouldn’t miss from miles away, enjoying his obvious despair. When he looked up again she waved, laughing loudly as if to make him feel worse.

“Sure, I’ll go with you,” Wonsik said to his soulmate, worriedly reaching an arm in his direction, intending to lace his waist to support him on their way out.

_They are watching, she’s watching._

“No!” Sanghyuk almost screamed, taking a step back. The three frowned in front of him, he swallowed dry, trying to make his face look normal so he could continue. “I’m okay, please don’t worry about me. I just need a moment. Go back to the table, it will make it easier for me to find you once I get back.” _Please go to the blind spot under the balcony where they can’t see you._ “Sik, could go to the bar and get me some water? Please?” he begged, seeing how unconvinced his soulmate was about leaving him alone when he looked so distressed.

Wonsik raised a brow. “Hyuk, are you sure, I really think I should go with you-”

Sanghyuk shook his head vigorously, he needed to get them out of her sight _now_. “I promise I’ll be back in a second, Sik, please go to the table, I’m okay.” He gave them a broken smile, turning his back before he heard an answer. Sanghyuk started to make his way through the crowd, breathing heavily and holding his tears in.

He didn’t look back, but he did look up. They were gone, but as expected he saw other two familiar faces, who looked just as shocked as he was. The urge to cry just increased when he understood the situation he’d put Wonsik in, what he had done. Sanghyuk started to push the people in front of him roughly, focusing on getting at the exit as fast as he could, not caring about the cusses and bad looks he was getting.

As soon as he was out of the cramped pub he took a deep breath into the cold night air and began to walk away from the exit, looking for a quiet deserted street close by to pull himself together.

As soon as he was alone he allowed himself to panic, his whole body tingling from the adrenaline rush.

“Shit, shit, shit,” he murmured to himself, hands on his knees as he panted. “What do I do, I’m such an idiot, Hana saw him, Hana saw him.” Tears began to blurry his eyes.

He wished he could go back in time and change what had just happened, to erase the memory of those people watching him and Wonsik hugging, the memory of Hana grinning at him. But there was no turning back now, BAP had seen him.

Of course, the universe would play a prank on him, the place Taemin had unknowingly brought them to was Purgatory, the same place Jaehwan and Taekwoon were set to confront BAP that same night.

“There he is, Han!” Sanghyuk heard a familiar voice behind him and every muscle in his body stiffened.

Sanghyuk’s head darted up and his sparkly eyes saw what he prayed to god would be a mirage, some BAP members coming his way. The exact ones he knew Jaehwan and Taekwoon had gone out to surprise that night at Purgatory.

His eyes scanned around and the realization he shouldn’t have cornered himself in a deserted street hit him. Cornered himself with members of the biggest and most dangerous gang in Seoul, great.

“Hey, Han!” Hana greeted him cheerfully, he could feel himself starting to hyperventilate, but he pushed it down.

“Hey, Hana.” He faked a smile at the cheery girl. Fake because if someone could track Wonsik down just from seeing him, that someone was daughter-of-Satan Hana, and at that moment she looked like she would love to do just that.

“I have to say, you surprised me today,” Hana began, pointing a finger at his direction and pouting. “I mean, the talk around the neighborhood is that you are Leo and Ken’s pet, but no one could ever be sure, could they.” Her voice was annoyed, but she kept her smile. “We liked you, always gave you the benefit of the doubt, but you really went out here and did _this_.” Sanghyuk felt every inch of his body freeze.

“What do you mean?” he asked calmly, glancing at the others as if he was confused. Terrible liar.

Nile, standing right next to Hana, obviously didn’t buy into his story. “She means we didn’t expect you to be in with Leo and Ken on this one. People say you are closer than you look, but for you to go on the field for them? You must be very good friends,” he said and winked, dirty, Sanghyuk felt disgusted. “I mean, we should have known there was something there, they are way too possessive over you.”

Sanghyuk knew then he had just made himself a target, BAP thought he was close enough to Leo and Ken to actually go into the field to assure they would be safe on the job. The way they saw it, Han, the mob doctor, had chosen a side to stand on. Himeji’s, the ones who had hired the two. And if you were on Himeji’s side, you were against BAP, plain and simple.

“The golden duo?” He gave his last shot on the clueless card.

“Don’t play dumb with us, you know we hate that,” Nile sneered back and Sanghyuk swallowed dry.

Sanghyuk had never liked working with BAP, especially when they almost killed Zelo. He was the one that saved him after they left him to bleed out on the street for something as stupid as entering their territory. BAP members were cruel, ruthless and took pity on no one, even someone who used to be one of their own.

Fortunately, Sanghyuk didn’t have to cross them too many times as the years went by, his office was on the north side of town and BAP’s domain was over the south and east, meaning they went to other doctors when they needed to. That night, however, regardless of distance and against his lucky he found himself staring right into Nile, the one he was most scared of.

When Bang left BAP and the gang’s head changed, their way of working and boundaries also did, it was the perfect time for someone like Nile to get himself into it.

Nile knew no mercy, he set no limits to reach his goals, to end people who crossed his way, and Sanghyuk was perfectly aware that at that moment he was doing just that, a little stone in his shoe. The guy who was siding with the Himeji allies and lying to his face about it. He could see it in the way Nile frowned his brows, the way his fists were squeezed so tight next to his body they were turning white, he was wondering about all the horrendous things he could do to make Sanghyuk pay for that.

“Did you hear me, Han? Don’t lie to us,” Nile murmured, eyes almost staring directly through him.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not working today, you saw me, I’m here with friends,” Sanghyuk answered in a reflex, even if he knew he was a terrible liar and none of them had believed him.

Hana turned her eyes. “Still lying? Damn, as if you didn’t know I can find your ‘friends’ in a heartbeat,” she said before Nile could say something to rile himself up even more.

Sanghyuk’s throat tightened. “I just happened to be in the same place as Leo and Ken were, I had no idea, I swear,” he told the first truth of the night, but when Nile and Kwon, the new BAP leader, took a step forward he felt his knees wanting to give out in fear.

Nile’s eyes flashed red and Kwon leaned closer to Sanghyuk. “Look around, Han, you’re all alone here, measure your chances if you don’t change your speech in the next couple of seconds,” he said and the younger felt his back hit the wall, hoping to somehow get through it and escape the conflict.

Hana’s spoke again, but there was no amusement to her voice anymore. “Are they with Himeji too?” she asked, tilting her head, staring.

All Sanghyuk could see were eyes, intimidating, pressing. Tears started to form in his own eyes, he felt trapped, terrified. He thought about what would happen if Nile got his hands on him, he knew way too well what he was capable off, all the things he liked to do to people who did as little as talk back to him.

Sanghyuk started shaking his head, desperate. “God, no, please-”

“Especially that red-haired you seemed so fond of, is he with them too?” Hana interrupted with a whisper and his heart tightened. _Wonsik_. “Who are they, Han?”

Sanghyuk felt like he would pass out at that second, the thought of Wonsik dragged into his dirty work life was too much for him to handle. When he opened his mouth to answer a familiar voice interrupted him, “you know what bothers me so much about you, Hana? You put your tiny nose in everyone’s business,” it said.

Nile and Hana turned their heads to where Taekwoon and Jaehwan were coming from, walking ever so calmly like their best friend wasn’t being pressed against a wall by criminals. When Sanghyuk glanced back at the ones in front of him, they had backed away from him already.

Kwon laughed, amused. “See, Han, your cavalry is here, no need to stretch out that awful lie anymore.”

Sanghyuk couldn’t bring himself to answer, just comforted himself in the fact that they weren’t too close to him anymore and he had Taekwoon and Jaehwan to protect him. He let out a shaky breath, leaning his head against the wall.

“You shouldn’t have gone into the field, Han, it’s much safer from where you were before,” Nile threatened and the younger felt his knees go weak again.

“Watch it, Nile,” Taekwoon hissed in his direction, scary like Sanghyuk had only heard him sound a few times before.

Nile was undoubtedly one of the most feared men of the city, but also was Leo. The hitman held the other’s gaze, the message loud in the silence, _step away from him_.

Surprisingly, Nile laughed, putting his hands up in fake surrender. “God, he is your pet! Didn’t know you liked them so young, do you two share?”

The BAP members exchanged looks, it wasn’t wise to try to get under Leo’s skin, especially when he looked that angry, but Nile didn’t care. Leo was taking away something he wanted, he would pay for that, he swore to himself that exact moment.

Taekwoon ignored the revolting question and looked at his friend. “Han, here, now” he said harshly, the rude act showing how nervous he truly was.

Sanghyuk knew the statement he would be making if he sided with his friends, there would be no turning back, being with the Golden Duo meant leaving his side job for good. Sanghyuk knew from then on any enemies who wanted to take revenge on Leo and Ken would surely look for him once the word spread, he wouldn’t be able to have a work routine in his office, he would be a sitting duck.

However, at that time, Sanghyuk saw no other option, the damage was already done. Even if he wasn’t with the Golden Duo, the most dangerous gang in town thought he was working against them. He had already said goodbye to what paid his bills, his masters and was going to pay for his residency. All gone, because he didn’t know where Purgatory was.

Sanghyuk forced his legs to move and dragged himself to stand beside his friends, choosing his side. The younger didn’t have time to react before Jaehwan grabbed his wrist and pulled him to stand behind the two, where it was safer.

The moment Jaehwan’s skin touched his, he could feel the fear rushing through his soulmate. Jaehwan had never met Sanghyuk in the middle of a job like that before, he fought to keep the younger away from it.

“So, is he under your protection?” Lisa, who had been quiet till then, asked, knowing the pair wouldn’t often do what they had just done.

“Yes,” Jaehwan answered with no hesitation.

Nile snorted at the eagerness. “Whoa, Ken, I didn’t know you were that close.” His fake grin made Sanghyuk shiver. “Is he that special to you? There is a vein popping in your neck, I wonder how would that look if I got my hands on him,” the man finished proudly and smiled.

“You’ll stay the fuck away from him,” Taekwoon hissed again and Sanghyuk could see BAP exchanging surprised looks. Goodbye career, he was now the golden duo’s pet.

Nile looked straight at Sanghyuk, hiding behind Jaehwan. “I wouldn’t hurt that pretty face, but I have to admit that now I’m curious to see what’s that good about him, he must be a dream to fuck.” His voice was dripping with malice, his mind rushing to all the things he could do with Sanghyuk before he was done with him for good. He would find him, he also promised himself.

The blue-haired shivered, making himself smaller behind his soulmate, not even embarrassed of how afraid he was. He had taken care of people Nile had gotten his hands on before, he knew what he was capable of.

Jaehwan felt a shiver go down his spine at the thought of that man near Sanghyuk, he took a step further and the man’s smile wavered, but he made an effort to keep it there. BAP were powerful, no doubt about it, but also were the Golden Duo and at that moment they were face to face with no backup, they all knew who would win in a fight there.

“Nile, dearest, don’t test my limits.” Jaehwan gritted his teeth in a weird, forced smile.

“Just because he asked you to share your little fuck toy?” Kwon asked and chuckled. He, same as the rest of them, was scared, but he was still angrier than anything else.

The whole reason why they had run into each other that night was that Leo and Ken had backed up Bang and Aka and stopped BAP from getting the information they wanted, the gang was frustrated and angry at the hitmen and it just so happened they had found out their soft spot. They couldn’t resist to push it further.

“I’ll only let that slide because you’re angry someone from inside your happy clan is leaking info, you must be really shaken up.” Jaehwan gave him a smile, condescending, the tone of mockery hanging thick in the air.

“You’re still set on not telling us who that is?” Lisa asked calmly, seemingly the only there unaffected by the situation.

Ken huffed out a laugh. “The answer is still no, sorry.”

“Even now that we have collateral?” Lisa said with a smile, implying the threat to Sanghyuk. The blue-haired swallowed dry.

“No,” Leo said coldly, gathering all the strength he had to control himself and not kill someone in front of Sanghyuk. “And you have nothing.”

Nile sighed, deeply, theatrically. “Fine, I guess I’ll just have to put playing 7 minutes in heaven with Han at the first spot of my bucket list.” The man stared directly into the blue-haired as he spoke, “I would love you to show me what all this fuss is about, Han.” Sanghyuk squeezed the back of Jaehwan’s shirt, shaking to his core.

Taekwoon found the last of his patience draining when he heard Nile speak and he took his gun from his holster. The smile faded from Nile’s lips when he small click of Taekwoon taking the gun’s safety off, all he had to do was pull the trigger. A silent threat, he had not liked what he’d just heard.

“Joke time is over. I don’t think you want your name on our blacklist, Kwon,” Ken directed his words to the leader, the one in charge. “So you will walk away now and forget Han exists. If you ever touch a single strand of hair on his head you can bet on your miserable life there is no place on earth you’ll be able to hide from us.” Jaehwan sounded more serious than Sanghyuk had ever heard him and if he wasn’t scared out of his wits, he might have been impressed by his friend’s impact, everyone looked terrified.

“You’re messing with fire here, don’t forget who we are,” Kwon spat back.

“Don’t forget who we are too, Kwon,” Taekwoon said firmly. “You should leave. Now,” he said and the others were already taking a step back.

“Bye.” Jaehwan waved ironically, holding himself from throwing a knife at someone’s neck.

Hana touched her leader’s shoulder, telling him that was enough. “Let’s go, come on,” she said, eyes fixed at Leo’s gun.

Jaehwan nodded. “Yes, Kwon, go.”

Kwon stared for a second, but his members guided him, or rather dragged him, to leave. Jaehwan and Taekwoon didn’t take the eyes off them until they got into a car down the street and left the other way.

Sanghyuk felt the heat coming up his throat, all he could do was lean his head on Jaehwan’s back and close his eyes.

It was over, like a part of him always knew it would be, yet he still hoped it wouldn’t have been that soon. The younger breathed heavily and when Jaehwan spun gently on his feet to face him, he was surprised by two arms going around his neck, urgent, desperate.

Jaehwan was taken aback, but slid his arms around Sanghyuk and held him, feeling his soulmate’s body shake as the heavy breathing turned into low sobbing.

“No one will hurt you,” the soft voice said and suddenly there was a soothing hand on Sanghyuk’s blue strands, Taekwoon.

Sanghyuk buried his face on Jaehwan’s neck, trying to comfort himself in the feelings of their bond, so much love, assurance, safety. Regardless of it, he still felt his world crumbling around him, everything crashing and turning to dust at his feet.

Sanghyuk choked out, “that’s n-not why I’m crying- it’s over, it’s over.” Speaking it just made it seem more real and Sanghyuk whined again.

“Your underground career? I’m sort of glad,” Jaehwan said and Sanghyuk raised his red eyes to glare at him, the older taking the opportunity to dry his tears with his hand. “We have your back, Hyuk, it’s fine.”

Sanghyuk shook his head. “N-no! I could barely afford m-my masters, I still need at least 2 years of residency to b-be able to work in a hospital- I’m broke, now.” His own words made his stomach turn and he closed his eyes.

“Kid, you have us, we’ll sort it,” Taekwoon patted his back again, comforting.

“You k-kind of have a lot on your plate right now.” The tears kept coming, so Jaehwan pulled him close again, letting him cry for a moment until he calmed. Sanghyuk mumbled, “I won’t have a place to live and-”

At that moment there was a noise coming from the alley on the other side of the street. Sanghyuk silenced himself, heart picking up again.

Before the younger could even wrap his head around what was happening, Jaehwan had pushed him to stand safely behind him and Taekwoon had his gun pointed to where the noise had come from, ready to shoot if that happened to be BAP trying to sneak up on them.

“I’m gonna say this once, don’t test my patience. Come out, hands up, or I swear to god I’ll shoot,” Taekwoon said, voice harsh, not in the mood to play nice.

Sanghyuk thought there was no way his night could get worse, but when he saw who trembled his way out of the dark shadows he realized he was very, very wrong.

Wonsik stood still at the end of the alley, wide fear-filled eyes looking at them, hands in the air.

“Wonsik.” Sanghyuk gave a broken sob, looking at him in a mix of confusion and despair.

“Oh, fuck,” Jaehwan whispered and Taekwoon put his gun away immediately, but the red-haired still kept his hands up, shocked.

Sanghyuk felt the very ground under him shaking and as his eyes found Wonsik’s, his heart tightened at the thought of losing one more thing that night, the most important one. Wonsik, who he loved dearly, who probably wouldn’t forgive him. Wonsik who had found out about his secret and would probably be horrified of the life he led, the person he thought Sanghyuk was.

The younger realized he was frozen on his spot when Jaehwan placed a hand on his back, pushing him forward, toward Wonsik.

Sanghyuk avoided looking at his soulmate at all, staring at the ground as he crossed the street, dragging his feet. Jaehwan and Taekwoon stood were they were, watching from a distance, waiting in silence to see if they would have to pick Sanghyuk’s pieces.

When Sanghyuk got to Wonsik he stared at his shoes, no nerve to dare and look up. How much had he heard? How had he taken it? The younger took a small breath and his eyes blurred again.

“What are you doing here?” Sanghyuk murmured, noticing how Wonsik’s hands were shaking. Another tear spilled, his soulmate was so scared, probably so angry, and it was all his fault.

“I-I came t-to check on you, but I c-couldn’t find you a-anywhere-” Wonsik shuttered too much to be understood so he just gave up. Sanghyuk raised his eyes.

Wonsik’s face was pale and he looked scared, but not disgusted. Didn’t he hate him yet? Why hadn’t he left?

“How did you even got there without me seeing you, Sik?” Sanghyuk whispered, holding himself from going on his knees and begging him not to leave him, to forgive him.

It took Wonsik a moment to understand he was asking about the alley. “I came t-through the other side, I saw someone being cornered a-and it was you.” His voice trembled at the memory, men and women pressing Sanghyuk against a wall as he had the most terrified expression on his face.

“How much did you hear?” Sanghyuk blurted out, knowing then was a bad time as any.

Wonsik looked guilty, he shook his head, voice small, “nothing.”

Sanghyuk frowned. “What?”

“It’s too far and w-when I saw you being cornered I took a few steps back to call someone, b-but-” he swallowed dry, scared to look at the other side of the street. Where the gun was. Why were there so many guns in his life lately? “Those two came along, it was all too fast. I didn’t listen to anything that could help you catch them, Hyuk, I’m sorry,” guilt filled tears were blurring his own eyes. Would Sanghyuk be mad at him?

A ray of hope, a light at the end of the tunnel. Suddenly Sanghyuk felt like the luckiest man alive, so much so he had no time to feel sorry about the number of lies he was about to tell Wonsik.

The younger sighed loudly and stepped closer to his soulmate, wrapping his shaking arms around him. Wonsik responded immediately, leaning into his chest, clawing at his back, he had been so scared that those men were going to hurt him, so useless for not helping. Sanghyuk felt Wonsik tremble against him and brushed a hand on his hair.

“I’m sorry,” the younger whispered. _Sorry for putting you through this, sorry for lying before and sorry for doing it again, I’m truly sorry._ The younger placed a kiss on his soulmate’s cheek and leaned away.

Wonsik shook his head. “It’s not your fault, mon chéri.” _Wrong_. “I was just s-so scared someone would hurt you.” He glanced to the side, the unknown men leaning on the wall looking at them. “Do you know them?”

Sanghyuk nodded, taking his hand and brushing it lightly with his thumb. “I do,” he said and Wonsik looked at him again. “Can we go to the other side so I can tell you who they are?” he asked softly.

“To meet the one that almost- shot me?” Wonsik swallowed dry.

Sanghyuk shook his head. “He wouldn’t shoot you, he was just trying to protect me.” Wonsik frowned in his confusion and Sanghyuk sighed.

The younger tugged at his hand lightly, heart beating fast, he knew how bad of a liar he was, he needed someone to lie for him. Wonsik kept his eyes on Taekwoon as he let Sanghyuk lead them closer to danger, scanning him from top to bottom, trying to find where his gun was. Gun.

Jaehwan and Taekwoon kept their faces neutral as Wonsik approached them, the red-haired not managing the same, looking terrified, squeezing Sanghyuk’s hand to the point it was painful.

“Sik,” Sanghyuk called his attention, the red-haired noticed he was staring. “These are Jae and Taek.”

Wonsik’s jaw dropped, he turned to look at his soulmate. “What?” He looked back at the hitmen.

Taekwoon waved his hand awkwardly, still no expression to his face, Jaehwan made a peace sign. Wonsik started to blink very fast, trying to grasp the situation.

“Are you serious?” Sanghyuk nodded. “Why does your soulmate carries a gun around?” Wonsik asked with a high-pitched tone.

“Jaehwan is the other one,” Sanghyuk clarified, Wonsik just stared at him as if he was saying that was not important. The younger sighed. “They are cops,” he lied, trying his best to sound believable.

Wonsik’s frown softened immediately. “Oh?” His shoulders relaxed, he looked at the hitmen for confirmation and they nodded. “Oh, that explains a lot, that’s why you have guns,” he said his thoughts out loud, the others just kept quiet, afraid to say something wrong and turn the situation around. “Oh, that makes sense.”

A lot of things clicked on Wonsik’s head, reaching all the wrong conclusions Sanghyuk hoped he would. _I’m sorry._

“Who were the other ones?” Wonsik asked after a moment, voice already appeased, polite, believing the lie just like that. Jaehwan understood why he was Sanghyuk’s soulmate, too innocent for his own good.

Taekwoon saw the look of despair in his friend’s face, he hadn’t thought that part through yet.

“We were undercover, but Jaehwan saw Hyuk at the bar and panicked, the gang we were here for saw who he was looking at and chased him outside before we could,” Taekwoon spoke calmly, voice soft and steady. A perfectly disguised lie. “Sorry I pointed my gun at you, I thought someone else was after him, I was trying to protect him,” he said truthfully.

Wonsik sighed loudly, he was so relieved, everything had been a misunderstanding. Or so he thought. “It’s okay. I just thought Hyuk was in trouble for a moment, I worried about him, that’s it. If he’s okay, I’m okay,” he began but then another worry hit. He squeezed his soulmate’s hand. “Can’t those people find you?”

Jaehwan, quick on his feet, answered, “don’t worry, we’ll arrest them sometime next month, until then we’ll cover his tracks and yours too. I just didn’t expect to see Hyuk in the field, I panicked, it was all an unfortunate coincidence.” Jaehwan’s lie was almost too good, his tone was very sincere, Wonsik bought it immediately.

“I can imagine you were scared,” he sympathized with Jaehwan’s situation and the brown-haired almost didn’t believe it. “But you’ll make sure he’s safe, right?” he looked into Jaehwan’s eyes.

Sanghyuk felt worse, Wonsik only cared about his safety, his well being and there he was, lying, digging himself deeper into the mess.

“Yes, I promise I will,” Jaehwan said firmly, reassuringly. “But to make sure of that just- don’t talk to anyone about what happened. The best way to keep everyone safe is keeping information from spreading.” Jaehwan gave him a smile.

“Oh, of course, that’s not a problem,” Wonsik said. With all that had been happening with Hongbin, keeping secrets was something he was great at by then.

“Just don’t ever come back here, this place is not safe,” Jaehwan informed and Wonsik mentally slapped Taemin. “And maybe- change your hair? It’s a unique combination, you two,” he joked, trying to lighten up the mood.

Wonsik, however, took it seriously. “That’s fine, I’m tired of the red anyway. Just please- keep him safe.” Sanghyuk felt guilt tugging at his chest.

“We always do,” Taekwoon reassured, Wonsik was still startled to hear him speak, his voice was too soft. And his stare way too intense.

An awkward silence stretched and Sanghyuk spoke to end it, “this is not how I wanted you to meet them.”

Wonsik chuckled. “Well, I didn’t expect one of them to point a gun at me, but some friends _can_ be overprotective,” he managed the joke.

Taekwoon huffed a laugh. “Again- I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” the red-haired shook his head dismissively. “Even if this situation was literally the worst possible, I’m still glad we got to meet, Hyuk talks about you all the time.”

Jaehwan sighed deeply. “Whatever he said, it’s all lies, I’m a wonderful person.”

“I only told him nice things, Jae,” Sanghyuk said to his soulmate with a faint voice, still stressed.

“Oh? So it’s all true, then,” Jaehwan said and nodded firmly. Wonsik laughed at him, somehow Jaehwan was exactly how he’d pictured him.

“We came by car, we can drop you off.” Taekwoon stared at Sanghyuk intensely. He should absolutely not go back inside Purgatory. Ever again.

Sanghyuk looked at Wonsik. “Is it okay if we go home? I really don’t feel like being here, I don’t feel so well.”

Wonsik nodded before he finished, he also didn’t feel like staying around the ‘not safe place’. “Of course, I’ll just go inside tell Tae and Nini you feel sick and we’re going, tell them to go home too.”

Sanghyuk smile and nodded. “Thank you.”

Wonsik turned his back and made his way back inside. They all sighed collectively.

“What the fuck even is this night,” Jaehwan murmured, shaking his head from side to side.

“Thanks for backing me up, I wouldn’t know what to say to him.” Sanghyuk’s sad look came back.

Jaehwan slid a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. Stay with him tonight, go bleach each other's hair and watch a movie, or something. Don’t think about what happened, it’s already done, we’ll sort it together after.” He squeezed his hand and Sanghyuk nodded. Distracting himself did sound better than facing the situation.

“He believed everything so easily, I feel horrible,” the blue-haired murmured.

“Don’t, it’s best for both of you. One day you’ll tell him, it’s just not the time now, you’re too close to everything,” Jaehwan said, letting his soulmate step away from the embrace.

“And for better or for worse, from today on you won’t be anymore,” Taekwoon complemented, Sanghyuk felt slightly nauseous.

The younger then attempted a change of subject. “About BAP-”

Jaehwan shook his head and raised his hand. “They touch you, I kill them, I meant it. BAP may be bold, but they know better than to mess with someone under our protection.”

Sanghyuk blinked a couple times, surprised at the speech, then spoke carefully, “that’s not my question. I wanted to know how the conversation went.”

“Oh. They couldn’t get anything out of us, we succeeded in making them think one of them is leaking information from the inside and they almost fought at the spot,” Jaehwan said and Sanghyuk was relieved, at least one thing had gone according to plan that night. “Then we told them to fuck themselves for trying to mess with us, basically,” he finished casually. “Bang and Aka were impressed, even.”

“Are you sure you’re not under their radar now?” the youngest asked.

Jaehwan shrugged. “We were under their radar already, we just need to use the time they’ll be focusing on finding the snitch to get stuff done.”

“I hope they don’t try anything funny,” Sanghyuk murmured, knowing how vengeful BAP could be.

“They won’t,” Jaehwan reassured. “They have bigger problems to worry about. All we have to do is keep a low profile for the next months and we’ll have no problem.”

Sanghyuk noticed then Taekwoon was zoned out, looking at the floor, but before he could ask if something was wrong he saw Wonsik coming back.

“We can go.” Wonsik caressed Sanghyuk’s back fondly, smiling faintly at the others.

The ride back home should be silent considering what happened, but no car with a curious Jaehwan was ever silent. Sanghyuk was glad his soulmates were getting along, the older filling the other with questions he didn’t seem to mind answering.

“Let him breathe, Jaehwan,” Taekwoon murmured behind the wheel, his partner snorted. “Where do I leave you?”

The soulmates exchanged looks. “Feel like dying your hair? There are all kinds of stuff in my apartment,” Wonsik joked.

“Only if you go silver.”

Wonsik chuckled. “I was going to surprise you, so there is actually stuff at my place to bleach and dye my hair. We could do it together, you could help me and we can order some food, sounds fun.”

Sanghyuk was smitten over the fact the other had planned yet another surprise for him, smiling and wrapping their fingers together. “Sure.”

Taekwoon passed his unlocked phone to Sanghyuk. “Put in his address.”

Wonsik had heard many times how quiet Taekwoon was, but he was still surprised. Taekwoon was ridiculously quiet. Seemed upset, even, but he had nothing to compare it with. Until Sanghyuk talked to him.

“Taek, what’s wrong?” he asked, almost on cue.

“Nothing, kid, I’m fine.” Taekwoon gave a faint smile through the mirror. Sanghyuk called that his bullshit smile, totally fake.

“He’s been like that all day, ever since he came back yesterday,” Jaehwan answered before Sanghyuk could, actually wanting to say _since he probably had another fight with Hongbin and got his panties up in a bunch,_ but it was better not to mix Wonsik with anything else from their work.

“I’m fine.” He glared at Jaehwan, who seemed unaffected.

“Sure, eyes on the road, tough guy.”

Taekwoon turned his eyes and didn’t say anything else, annoyed.

At that moment Wonsik’s phone rang and he occupied himself with picking it up and not laughing at the teasing Jaehwan was throwing in Taekwoon’s way.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Hey, that document you left me, is there a copy?” Hongbin asked.

Wonsik glanced at his watch. “You’re working? It’s 2 a.m. on a Saturday, are you serious?”

“The document, Wonsik, is there a copy?” Hongbin insisted.

“No, Bin, no copy. Wait- did you lose it?” he asked, surprise mixing with a hint of anger.

Hongbin hesitated. “I may have.”

Wonsik placed a hand on his head. “You’re the worst boss I’ve ever had, I went through so much trouble to get that, the Japanese representative had signed it and everything,” he whined.

“So- no copy?”

Wonsik gritted his teeth. “No, you absolute idiot. Did you check everywhere on the desk?” Jaehwan and Taekwoon exchanged looks, because who would talk to their boss like that?

“The desk? Didn’t you leave it at my bed?” There were noises of papers being searched through on the other side of the line.

“Why would I leave it on your bed? I left it on your desk like I always do.” The partners exchanged looks again, why did he have access to his boss’ bed?

The shifting paper noises continued on the other side until Hongbin gasped, Wonsik sighed in relief.

“If I was home I would punch you,” Wonsik said, but he was relieved he wouldn’t go through the trouble of getting the document again.

“Found it, thanks, helpful employee.” Wonsik could hear his brother’s big grin.

“Go to sleep, please, you’re not functioning properly, you’ve been working nonstop since this morning. Are you okay?” He ignored his friend’s attempt of a joke, speaking in a worried tone.

“I’m fine, grandma,” Hongbin said.

Wonsik sighed. “If you need anything, call me, I’ll be up late.”

“Sure, honey.” He made a kissy sound.

“Disgusting,” he said, hint of a smile on his lips. “Bye, Hongbin.”

Taekwoon and Jaehwan exchanged looks again.

“He’s working?” Sanghyuk asked.

“I told you, he never stops.” Wonsik sighed.

“Your boss?” Jaehwan asked, careful.

Wonsik remembered there were other people listening, regretting the way he spoke to Hongbin. “Oh, no- I mean, technically yes. It’s my brother, we work together, he is my boss, but I don’t ever seriously call him that.”

Jaehwan snorted then laughed. “That’s funny, his brother’s name is Hongbin. So many Hongbins lately. Right, Taek?”

Taekwoon glared at his friend again, Sanghyuk caught on. “Oh, is that why you’re in such a bad mood? You fought with Hongbin?” the younger asked.

Wonsik frowned, confused. “My Hongbin? How do you know him?”

Jaehwan shook his head no. “Not yours, Taekwoon’s.”

“He’s not mine!” Taekwoon punched Jaehwan in the arm, who looked pleased with managing to annoy him enough to raise his voice.

“Hongbin is the name of one of our co-workers in the force, he and Taekwoon pull each other’s pigtails,” Jaehwan explained.

“Oh, that sucks, I’m sorry,” Wonsik said. “He must be a nightmare to be able to get under your skin.”

“He doesn’t,” Taekwoon answered simply.

Taekwoon was not in the mood for being teased, he had been really upset since the day before, but not because of Hongbin, because of what he’d done to Hongbin, what he’d said to him. Taekwoon was really disappointed at himself and he really didn’t feel like talking about it, especially when Hongbin seemed scared of him in the house earlier that day, avoiding eye contact as they told Aka and Bang the plan.

By the time they reached Wonsik’s place, Taekwoon still remained mainly silent, but Jaehwan had already given him a nickname, said he was approved to date Sanghyuk and had invited the younger for coffee, which didn’t truly surprise anyone.

They dropped them off and waited until they went inside the building to leave.

“Even Hyuk noticed. You really don’t wanna tell me what happened?” Jaehwan asked once they were alone.

Taekwoon sighed. “Jaehwan, please, nothing happened. Drop it,” he said without looking at his partner.

Jaehwan sighed deeply and nodded, agreeing to let it go. For the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enter stage left, nile! [crowd booing]. i absolutely hate him, can't believe he came out of my brain......
> 
> i missed this story so much, i'm so glad i have time againnnnn, hope you guys are happy too


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyo hope you're all doing well, here is your weekly dose of This
> 
> tw: mentions of anxiety

“Are you okay?” Wonsik asked softly, as if to not startle Sanghyuk, but still, the younger jumped at the sound. The blue-haired turned to his soulmate and gave him a faint smile, nodding and placing a hand on his cheek, caressing it.

Wonsik leaned into the touch, eyelids fluttering slightly. After the night they had, Wonsik was craving affection, touch, he was craving Sanghyuk. Every time the older remembered seeing his soulmate being cornered by those people, looking so scared and helpless, he wanted to hold him and never let go.

“I am, it was just- a lot, tonight.” Sanghyuk’s hand dropped from his soulmate’s face, guilt forcing him to avoid his soulmate’s eyes.

“That’s an understatement,” the older agreed. “I still can’t believe all of that was real, that really happened. It’s hard to believe we’re not characters in an action movie or a book,” Wonsik said, letting out a puff of air after.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this mess,” Sanghyuk murmured, still not looking at him. It was Wonsik’s turn to place a hand on his soulmate’s cheek, reassuring.

“Nothing that happened was your fault, Hyuk. How could you know Taekwoon and Jaehwan would be working there that night? It was just an unfortunate coincidence.” Wonsik’s thumb brushed against Sanghyuk’s smooth skin. The younger just wanted to tell the truth, that he was wrong, that it had been his fault, that he was sorry. “It’s just insane what they do for a living, putting themselves in danger like that.”

 _You have no idea._ “Yes, it is,” the younger murmured again.

“Don’t you worry about them?” Wonsik asked when Hongbin popped up on his mind, how much he worried for his brother every time he went to that damn house.

“Constantly,” Sanghyuk admitted. “Every time they go out on the field like that I lose a percentage of my hair, I’m going bald if they don’t trade line of work soon.” Wonsik laughed faintly and his soulmate couldn’t help but smile with him, kissing his hand delicately before taking it off from his face, lacing their fingers.

“I think you would look cute bald.” Wonsik chuckled at the mental image and Sanghyuk pouted in disagreement.

“I would rather not test that theory, thank you, blue is as drastic as I’ll get.” The younger raised a brow.

Wonsik lifted his arm, fingers still locked in Sanghyuk’s, and placed a kiss on the back of his soulmate’s hand. “Since we’re on the subject, I don’t know if Taekwoon and Jaehwan were serious, but do you feel like changing it up?”

Sanghyuk raised a brow. “Our hair?” Wonsik nodded. “How would we do that?”

Wonsik opened up a wide smile and bounced up from his bed excitedly, walking to his wardrobe. When he opened it, as expected, stuff fell on his head. The red-haired huffed in annoyance, pulling the hoodie that had fallen on him and throwing it on the floor violently, pointing at it as if he was scolding the item of clothing. Sanghyuk held himself from bursting in laughter and the older retreated his finger, turning back to the wardrobe, beginning to dig inside the chaotic mountain of clothes, looking for something.

Wonsik huffed again when he obviously didn’t find what he was looking for and shoved his arm elbow deep in the clothes. Suddenly, his fingers touched a hard surface and his face lit up. Wonsik pulled his arm back, holding up a white plastic bag with the proudest expression Sanghyuk had ever seen on him.

“I feel like I’ve just watched a birth video. Is it a boy or a girl?” Sanghyuk mocked and Wonsik narrowed his eyes.

“Very funny.” Wonsik glared back, but his look softened when Sanghyuk opened his arms to him. The older threw the bag on the bed mindlessly and wrapped himself in the other’s embrace.

“What’s inside that?” Sanghyuk asked after a while, just enjoying having the other close to him.

Wonsik leaned away and reached for the bag again, taking a box and a few plastic bottles out of it.

“You’ve been hitting and joking I should go back to silver, so I bought this to surprise you,” Wonsik said and Sanghyuk was pretty sure he beamed at him. “But now that you’re here, we could just do it together.”

Sanghyuk raised a brow, confused. “You want to dye it now?” Wonsik nodded. “But- don’t you need to go to a salon or something? Aren’t you afraid of messing up your hair?”

Wonsik chuckled. “I’ve dyed my own hair for years now, mon chéri. Did you think I went to a salon every time I changed my color? I would be broke.” Sanghyuk pouted then nodded, it made sense.

“Okay then. I’m not ready to let the blue go yet, but I’m all for you going silver,” the younger said excitedly. “I’ll help you.”

Wonsik pecked the other’s lips and started to move away when Sanghyuk pulled him back, making him lose his balance and slump back on the bed ungracefully. Wonsik couldn’t even laugh before the younger glued their lips together, just sliding his arm around Sanghyuk’s neck and kissing him back.

When the kiss started to heat up, Wonsik broke it, panting slightly. “I thought we were going to play Barbie’s salon, this is heading to another direction,” the older murmured against Sanghyuk’s lips.

“I’m just saying goodbye to Red Sik,” Sanghyuk murmured back.

Wonsik kissed him again, long enough that Sanghyuk felt his head beginning to fog. “I thought you wanted to have a go with Silver Sik, I’m sure he would be up for that,” he whispered.

“And would he take the lead today?” Sanghyuk asked. He would be lying if he said he hadn’t been thinking about it. Wonsik leading him, telling him what to do, inside of him. He almost moaned at the thought.

“Yes, he would,” Wonsik mustered the courage to say.

Sanghyuk swallowed at the thought and forced himself to pull away from Wonsik before things escalated, the bond complaining at him for doing so. It was for a good cause, he knew.

“Let’s get on with it then,” Sanghyuk said before he changed his mind.

Wonsik smiled and got up, going into the bathroom. Before Sanghyuk could follow, he walked back out shirtless and the younger smirked, leaning back on the bed so he could appreciate the view.

“Stop,” Wonsik said, placing a hand on his stomach to cover himself.

“Not my fault you’re this hot,” Sanghyuk said casually and Wonsik almost squealed with embarrassment.

The older felt warmth taking his cheeks and grabbed the bag he’d abandoned, motioning his soulmate to follow him. “Come on.”

Sanghyuk wanted to hug Wonsik as he applied the bleach throughout his hair, but his shirt was black and it was best not to risk it, so against his better judgment, the blue-haired leaned into the wall and just watched the older massaging the awful-smelling substance on his head.

When Wonsik decided his work was good enough, he made a swirl on the top, turning to his soulmate and posing, hand on his hips.

“Not a good look?” Wonsik asked, raising his chin. He couldn’t keep up with the straight face for long with the sound of Sanghyuk’s melodic laughter.

“You look like the Grinch!” Sanghyuk folded on top of himself, laughing even harder at his own joke and Wonsik pushed his shoulder back in protest.

“You’re just jealous, this is trending in Milan.” Wonsik pouted, glancing at the mirror to catch a view of his ridiculous hair. He did look like the Grinch.

Wonsik left the bathroom, swirl and all, and went to the kitchen to find something to eat. After Sanghyuk somewhat composed himself, he followed, wiping the tears that had escaped and joining his soulmate.

Wonsik ended up having to bleach twice to get rid of the red, the strands ending up in a yolk-yellow tone. Sanghyuk didn’t hate it. “This is not bad,” the younger commented from the bedroom and Wonsik looked at himself the mirror, frowning at the sight of his wet, very yellow hair.

“This is an atrocity,” the older disagreed, covering the hair with the towel and rubbing at his scalp, drying the strands.

Sanghyuk leaned on the pillow, chewing mindlessly on a piece of fruit of his berry mix. “I thought you said you had gone blonde before.”

Wonsik draped the wet towel over his bare shoulders, his hair messy and damp. Sanghyuk stopped chewing for a moment, admiring the view. “It wasn’t this yellow.”

Sanghyuk nodded, once again eyes glued to the other’s body. Wonsik noticed and hugged his torso in embarrassment, going back into the bathroom again. The younger pouted.

When Wonsik came out of the bathroom again, he had dye on his hair, smell strong enough to make Sanghyuk scrunch his nose. He was getting impatient, wanting to cuddle with Wonsik already, but when he saw the slicked back yellowish-silver hair his expression softened and he chuckled.

“Hey, Malfoy,” the younger teased, the picture painting itself on his head.

“Offensive, I’m a Hufflepuff.” Wonsik crossed his arms over his bare chest.

Sanghyuk frowned. “Aren’t you a Ravenclaw?”

“You’re a Ravenclaw?” Wonsik asked, confused, always having taken his soulmate to be in the same house as he was.

Sanghyuk nodded. “Obviously, the best house.”

Wonsik scoffed. “Are you sure about that? Hufflepuff’s common room is near the kitchen,” he argued.

Sanghyuk huffed out a laugh. “You have a point.”

Wonsik gave a smug smile and sat on the bed, putting a movie to pass the time as he waited for the time of the dye to settle. When it was ready, an alarm rang on his phone and he turned it off quickly, not wanting to wake up Sanghyuk, who had drifted off in their long wait.

The older got up and went into the bathroom, closing the door so he could shower and blow-dry his hair without waking the other up. It was late then, past 3 a.m., but surprisingly enough he was not sleepy, humming a cheerful tune as he bathed.

When Wonsik was done drying his hair he looked at the mirror, very satisfied with the result, the color turned out better than he expected, no yellowness peeking through. Maybe because he was distracted enough with hanging out with Sanghyuk he hadn’t rushed to take off the dye and look at the new color as he always did.

When he left the bathroom Sanghyuk was cozied up on the bed, lips slightly parted and breathing slow and deep. Wonsik smiled and went to his wardrobe, having yet another hoodie fall on his face. He huffed and threw it on the ground, noticing how Sanghyuk had picked up and folded the previous one neatly, and changed into something clean, climbing on the bed slowly after.

He scooched over delicately, hugging Sanghyuk from behind and placing a light kiss under his ear. The younger stirred in his sleep, but did not wake up. Wonsik nuzzled at his hair, caressing his soulmate’s arm up and down as he waited to get sleepy himself.

As the tip of his fingers brushed on Sanghyuk’s skin, he found himself intrigued by the sensation he got, that airy floating feeling he grew to adore so much. It relaxed him because it was a reminder of his boyfriend, the man he felt so lucky to share a fate’s mark with.

It was so pleasing being with his soulmate, talking to him, kissing him, Sanghyuk seemed to tick every box of what he thought would make the perfect person.

Sanghyuk was funny, caring, had a beautiful smile and most of all, was very honest. He trusted the younger completely, he loved the fact the younger seemed to keep no secrets from him. He valued that quality very much, there was no way Sanghyuk would lie to him about anything.

A sting in his chest reminded him he wasn’t doing the same, he was lying to Sanghyuk about all the wrong things he was doing for Hongbin. Every day he would help his brother through the problems he had in the house, snooped around in Jongup’s phone if he had to, listened to conversations through Hongbin’s phone to understand things better. He was an accomplice, standing in the shadows, but one of the main reasons why everything was running smoothly. He was a part of the dirty scheme, just much a criminal as any other there.

That thought itself made him feel horrible, but it got even worse when he realized that he would do everything again in a heartbeat if he had to. He would do anything for his family. He would go against Sanghyuk. He would hurt Sanghyuk.

A thought crossed Wonsik’s mind and installed panic in his core: would the lie hurt Sanghyuk enough to break their trust forever if he found out? Could that cause their bond to Tear like Hakyeon’s and his soulmate?

The thought of not having Sanghyuk in his life made his stomach turn and he felt his heart tighten, tears blurring his eyes.

Wonsik felt his body start to shake and he held his breath, leaning away from Sanghyuk so he could get up. He scrambled to his feet and as he sat on the couch, watching the younger sleep so peacefully, so unknowing, he felt like the worst human walking on earth.

How come he had never thought about that before? Sanghyuk would never approve his actions. He could assume Wonsik had been lying about everything else, that his personality was all for show.

Sanghyuk would be disappointed. Sanghyuk would leave him, as everyone did.

Wonsik placed a hand over his mouth, but the tears kept coming, shaking his body, fueling his thoughts.

His choices and his priorities would lead the way for him to lose Sanghyuk too.

The older closed his eyes and lowered his head, letting the sobs come and take him. His chest was starting to ache and it was like a million people were screaming his insecurities at him, mocking him.

 _You didn’t honor him like your mark said you should,_ the voice accused. _He deserves better than you._

Another sob broke through him, knowing that was right. Sanghyuk deserved someone who wouldn’t lie to him like that, who wouldn’t hide that big of a secret from him.

 _He won’t forgive you because you’re not worth it._ Wonsik shuddered, his throat tightening.

_He’ll leave you._

Suddenly an image formed on his mind, Sanghyuk walking away as he found out about everything, tears rolling down his face, betrayed, broken.

_And then he’ll find someone that will treat him right._

The idea made Wonsik nauseous. He could see Sanghyuk wrapped in another man’s arms. Kissing him. Making love to him.

“No,” Wonsik whispered between sobs, trying to make the voice go away.

“Sik, what’s wrong?”

Wonsik jumped on his spot and looked up to see Sanghyuk was kneeling in front of him, eyes full of worry. He could only stare at his soulmate as another sob broke through him.

“Love, what’s wrong?” Sanghyuk insisted, voice soft, and placed a gentle hand on his soulmate’s cheek, brushing away a tear that had just fallen.

Wonsik shuddered at his touch. Feeling the bond just reminded him he would lose it one day. Wonsik whined and lowered his head again, brushing the other’s hand from him. Sanghyuk distanced himself right away.

“Is it about earlier? I’m so sorry, Wonsik,” the younger said, hurt in his tone, his own eyes burning with guilt-filled tears.

The older noticed what he’d done and promptly shook his head, trying to find his words but not able to. He decided to let his actions do the talking, parting his knees slightly so Sanghyuk could come closer to him. The younger immediately did, letting Wonsik lean his head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around him, caressing his back and placing kisses on his new silver strands, forgotten at the sight of the other’s sadness.

“It’s okay, it was really scary,” Sanghyuk tried to comfort, nuzzling his hair, kissing it, brushing it, showing love in every way he could. “I’m so sorry, please forgive me.”

“That’s not what I’m crying about,” Wonsik managed, trying to ease his mind. But then he realized he would need an excuse, another lie. His heart tightened, another lie. Another reason for Sanghyuk to leave.

“Did something happen?”

When Wonsik didn’t answer, Sanghyuk reached into the bond. It was like the anxiety invaded him all at once, all the distress the other was feeling, all the fear making his chest ache.

Abandonment, so much fear of abandonment.

“Was it a nightmare?” the younger asked, pushing Wonsik away from his arms so he could look at his face. His eyes were red and his cheeks wet with tears. It was heartbreaking, made the blue-haired feel helpless.

“Nightmare,” Wonsik agreed after a moment, trying to appease Sanghyuk. But it was just a lie, _another lie_ , his stomach turned.

“About losing something?” Sanghyuk asked, all too knowing and Wonsik was reminded the younger could feel some things through the bond.

He felt horrible when he became fearful of Sanghyuk’s abilities, afraid he would read his thoughts somehow and find out about his secrets. He then became instantly ashamed of himself, undeserving of Sanghyuk.

“Losing you,” Wonsik admitted truthfully to get away from his head, finally some truth. “You not being in my life anymore, you leaving me,” he spat, new tears burning his eyes.

Sanghyuk brushed his nose at a shiny tear that was running down the other’s cheek, kissing his lips gently after. “That’s not happening. I won’t leave you, not now, not ever.”

“Everyone ends up leaving, Hyuk, ever since I was a baby.” The statement made Sanghyuk’s tongue feel heavy in his mouth, he knew who was the first person to leave Wonsik, his mother, when he was still a baby. Wonsik’s biggest fear was people walking out on him because of it.

“I don’t care, Wonsik. I’m not,” Sanghyuk said, brushing a hand on his silver hair. “The idea of being apart from each other hurts you as much as it hurts me, I could never leave you.”

“I’m so scared of something coming in between us,” Wonsik said between low breaths, not brave enough to look to the other’s eyes.

Sanghyuk cupped his face and kissed his lips gently again, pressing them for a long time before pulling apart, murmuring against them in a low voice, “There is no power in this earth or outside of it strong enough to come between us. Your soul is wrapped with mine forever, nothing will change that.”

Wonsik would have smiled at his intensity in another situation, but he was so desperate he took it. “Can you promise me whatever happens we’ll try to figure a way out together?”

Sanghyuk pressed against him again and Wonsik kissed him back that time, fitting their lips, melting into him. “I promise,” the younger whispered once it was over.

Wonsik buried his face on the crook of Sanghyuk’s neck, hugging him tight and taking in his scent, his warmth. “I love you so much, please, never forget it, please, _please_ ,” he said, desperate. “Now I know how it feels to have you in my life I don’t know if I can be without it. Please, don’t leave me, please-” He broke down again, sobbing.

Sanghyuk shushed him, cradling him in his arms. “I won’t, never, ever, don’t worry,” he whispered, rocking him slowly. “I love you, Wonsik, I love you so much.”

The younger kept his soulmate in his embrace until his body stopped shaking, his breathing slowed, until Wonsik began to lazily run his hand up and down his back too.

“Thank you,” Wonsik said after a while, calmer.

“You’re welcome, Silver Sik,” Sanghyuk said jokingly, trying to liven up the mood.

Wonsik moved away and glanced up, as if he could see the hair on top of his head, which he couldn’t. “Oh,” he said, remembering. “Do you like it?” he asked with a faint voice, brushing his fringe back with his hand.

Sanghyuk watched the strands fall back into place, the silver hair even prettier reflecting the bright light. “I loved the red so much, but _this_ … this is stunning, you’re so perfect,” he said in a proper proud-boyfriend tone.

Wonsik chuckled, pulling the other closer and wrapping his legs around him. He was so lucky to have him. “I’m glad you like it,” he murmured.

“Love it,” Sanghyuk corrected.

Wonsik smiled. “Silver and blue are a perfect match,” he commented, trying to move on from the previous subject completely.

Sanghyuk kissed his soulmate’s flushed cheeks, then the tip of his reddened nose, holding his face with his hands, forcing their eyes to meet. “I think you and I are a perfect match,” he said.

“Cheesy,” Wonsik murmured, his heart fluttering.

Sanghyuk smiled. “I am but,” he leaned away and brushed his hand through the other’s hair, ruffling it up a bit, “this is beautiful, I was right, you look hot.”

Wonsik huffed. “With my face all red and snorty, I bet.”

Sanghyuk shrugged, drying the last trace of the tears from his cheeks. “Snorty and silver Sik could still have his way with me, I would absolutely not mind it,” he joked.

Wonsik blushed, ducking his head. So lucky. “He will,” he murmured, barely audible.

The older pulled him closer and held on to him like he was afraid he would turn to smoke and slip away from his fingers, but Sanghyuk just kept his embrace gentle, running his hands up and down his soulmate’s back and leaving a small trail of kisses from the side of his face to his head.

Wonsik softened his grip after a while, cozying up against the crook of the other’s neck and twirling his finger on the younger’s hair, distracted, peaceful. His eyes started to feel heavy and Sanghyuk noticed it, kissing his cheek and getting on his feet, bringing them back to the bed.

That time Sanghyuk embraced Wonsik from behind, safe, caressing his skin with the tip on his fingers, feeling the previous anxiety in the bond being replaced by gratitude, love.

The younger continued to make a trail of soft kisses on the back of Wonsik’s neck. “I’m not going anywhere, ever, I promise,” Sanghyuk comforted for the last time, glad his soulmate wasn’t crying anymore. The older just nodded and reached for the other’s hand, locking their fingers.

Wonsik thought about the fact that promise was being made on the grounds of Sanghyuk not having any idea of the lies he was telling.

However, he had no idea of the many lies Sanghyuk was telling back at him. Would he be able to forgive those?

\--

“Bang said everything went well.” Hongbin attracted Taekwoon’s eyes up, who was just leaning on the wall texting his boss. His real boss. “He was too busy to chat, so here I am,” he explained why he was there.

The older locked the screen and placed the phone on his pocket, making Hongbin wonder how did he manage to fit anything in jeans that tight.

Taekwoon was surprised to see Hongbin coming to him. After what had happened in the park, the younger had been avoiding to even be in the same room as him, but there he stood, chin up high, looking like his normal snob self. “It did,” Taekwoon said hesitantly, finding the other’s actions strange.

“Leo, use your words, please, it’s not that hard.” He tipped his head to the side, in a mix of impatience and annoyance. Taekwoon huffed, back to normal it was, then.

“Everything went well,” Taekwoon said and for a moment Hongbin thought he was done, getting himself ready to say something nasty as him for it. “They couldn’t get anything out of us and Aka and Bang made some threats so they would back off.”

Hongbin lifted his eyebrow. “Is it okay for us to be threatening them like this? Thought BAP was a big deal, dangerous.”

Taekwoon shrugged. “They are. But so are the Himeji and so is Ken and I,” he pointed at his partner, just sitting at the table on the other side of the room, watching the conversation like a hawk.

Jaehwan had told his partner he had dropped the subject of Hongbin. He didn’t mention, however, for how long. He had meant he’d dropped it for the night. That was a whole new day for investigating what had happened that led to Taekwoon downgrading from 30 to 20 words per day and upgrading his complaining and bad mood from 40 to 100.

“Don’t worry, Hongbin, the main plan is hiding our location from them. That is still going well.”

Hongbin nodded, relieved. “Good. Did you also make them think there was someone inside leaking information?”

“We did.”

Hongbin waited for him to say something else, but Taekwoon just kept looking at him. He narrowed his eyes. “Words, Leo,” he said, making a motion with his hands so the older would continue.

“We did everything according to plan, Hongbin,” Taekwoon answered patiently. “Ken and I waited for BAP to approach Bang and Aka, then we went there to confront them. Ken sold the story quite easily, actually, he’s really good at lying,” he said casually.

Hongbin glanced to Jaehwan and the brown-haired shifted from his concentrated, analyzing, CSI-episode-worthy gaze just for a second so he could nod.

“Everything worked out because as it turns out, all you gave us checked out,” Taekwoon said and Hongbin frowned. Had that been _a compliment?_

“I told you, I’m good at my job,” Hongbin said after a short pause, suspicious.

“Not even Zelo knew the names you gave us, Hongbin, their real names,” Taekwoon said, lowering his voice so not even Jaehwan could listen. Taekwoon cocked his head and Hongbin’s heart raced, of course, it hadn’t been a compliment. “I have no idea how you got those, but be careful, don’t trust just anyone,” he said, voice barely a whisper, Jaehwan almost falling off his chair in the effort to listen. He failed.

Taekwoon had been genuine that time. He was telling Hongbin to be careful, to watch himself. His voice sounded- real, and it unsettled the younger how he didn’t catch his lie at that time. Because that had to be a lie, Leo would never tell him to be careful.

“Thank you, I will,” he said, playing into whatever game Leo was playing, and Taekwoon nodded, looking honest once again. Why wasn’t Hongbin seeing his tell? He always knew when Taekwoon lied.

“Anything else?” Taekwoon said, voice back to his normal neutral tone, still soft and low, but allowed Jaehwan to investigate again.

Hongbin snapped out of his daydream, trying to read Taekwoon proving to be exhausting him. He wished he could just feel everything the other did like magic, maybe understand what went on in that head. “Bang and Aka told me you and Ken had to solve something with them outside, did something happened?”

“Nothing important,” Taekwoon said casually. Hongbin huffed, satisfied, there it was.

“That’s a lie,” Hongbin answered back on the spot, a small smile threatening to crawl up his lips. He was right, it was late, but it was there.

Taekwoon frowned. “Why would I lie to you? Nothing happened.”

Hongbin snorted, it was obvious then. “Lied again. You have a tell, Leo, if we’re close enough I can always see it,” he said, filled with certainty.

Jaehwan, in his CSI moment, nodded in agreement with Hongbin. He knew his partner had a very subtle tell when he lied, but it took a lot of time for him to notice, it wasn’t possible that Hongbin knew it already.

“A tell?” Taekwoon seemed amused, thinking that was a ridiculous accusation.

“The inner-corner of your left brow twitches when you lie.” Jaehwan’s jaw almost dropped. “I can normally tell when people are lying to me- and you lie _a lot_.”

Taekwoon crossed his arms over his chest. “I find it hilarious how you think you know the first thing about me.”

Hongbin was already feeling Wonsik pulling his ear over not backing off, but something about Taekwoon just made him angry. “I know enough. I know you go around threatening people so they get off your back like you did to me at the park,” he said, voice showing a slight hint of hurt.

Taekwoon felt the guilt coming back, but his voice remained the same, neutral. “Didn’t work, did it? I thought it would, you looked really shaken up,” he tried to mock.

Hongbin huffed out a laugh. “No point in lying, I actually was. You know why?”

Taekwoon had a disdained look on his face, watching the other talk like he had all figured out. “Do tell.”

“Because there was no tell, Leo, you weren't lying.” Taekwoon felt his expression falling. “You got angry with something I said and you threatened to _kill me-_ no, force me on my knees and shoot me execution style, for it. That’s the kind of person you are.” Hongbin sounded disgusted and right then, Taekwoon felt dirty. “Taking a life changes nothing for you because a life means nothing to you.”

Jaehwan watched his partner’s expression. When he saw it dropping, he understood what had happened that night. Case closed.

Hongbin took Taekwoon’s silence as defiance. “So, of course, you scare me, who wouldn’t be scared of someone like that. I keep saying shit to you because I’m a complete idiot and I can’t keep my mouth shut, but I understand why nobody else here does, they’ve seen what you’re capable off, I bet,” Hongbin said and, as if he hadn’t just knifed Taekwoon in the gut, smiled widely.

Taekwoon had no idea why Hongbin’s words were stirring him, it shouldn’t matter, they were strangers. Jaehwan could see in the second his partner’s expression faltered, he cared, he believed those words.

Taekwoon’s expression was back to rock solid the next second, though, like he didn’t care about what he’d just heard, and spoke casually, “Thanks for telling me everything about my personality after knowing me for this long month. Are you done?”

“No, I want to know what happened when you followed them out,” Hongbin insisted.

Taekwoon sighed and turned his eyes. “You’re so fucking persistent. It wasn’t anything that matters to you or anyone else here other than Ken and I, personal subject. Ask him if you don’t believe me.”

Hongbin looked at Jaehwan, reminded of his presence in the room all of a sudden. “It didn’t have to do with this job, you have nothing to worry about,” Jaehwan said promptly, backing Taekwoon up.

“And you didn’t have any other moment to solve that?” Hongbin frowned at Jaehwan, like he was disappointed at him.

Jaehwan’s voice was calm, patient. “It was sort of- thrown at our face. BAP ran into someone at Purgatory and tried to mess with them, and just so happens that someone matters to us, so we had to take care of it.”

Hongbin was silent for a moment, taking from the way Ken chose to even remove the pronouns, he didn’t want him to know who this person was. He was protecting them. He knew what was like to want to protect someone you care about, so he dropped it.

“Did some sort of conflict happen?” Hongbin asked.

“It did, yes.” Jaehwan nodded. Hongbin wasn’t sure he wanted to know what that entailed, so he just changed the subject.

“Was this before or after you went through with our plan?”

“After, this did not interfere with it at all. They were already leaving when they ran into this person and we had to jump in to keep BAP from hurting them.” Jaehwan was as vague as he possibly could. “Hongbin, we have all have parts to play here, we don’t question your decisions and you don’t question ours. You need to trust we know what we’re doing,” he said, but there was no aggressiveness in his tone, just reminding him of a fact.

Hongbin nodded immediately. “You’re right.” He then added with a joking tone, “But if I think you’re fucking up I will nag the shit out of you.” He wiggled his finger in Jaehwan’s direction.

Jaehwan smiled and nodded at him, the younger taking it was his cue to leave the room, leave the conversation.

In a rare and unusual moment, Taekwoon broke the silence that followed. “How can you talk with him so easily? He listens to you,” he asked, confused.

Jaehwan turned his eyes and walked closer to his friend. “Not that hard, I just don’t try to pick up a fight with him every time we speak to each other.”

Taekwoon scoffed, bewildered. “You think it’s my fault?”

Jaehwan shrugged and Taekwoon just stared at him with wide, upset eyes, so he sighed and said, “I think you’re two got off on the wrong foot and keep finding reasons to disagree over everything instead of working this out like adults.”

“Listen to yourself! When do _I_ pick up a fight with anyone?” his tone was outraged, slightly higher than usual, like he couldn’t believe the other’s words.

“You don’t, so why are you doing this now?” Jaehwan tilted his head to the side.

Hongbin came back into the room and Taekwoon silenced himself, watching the younger calmly sit on the table, coffee he had forgotten inside in hand again as he blew on the surface to cool it down.

Taekwoon took a deep breath. Something awakened at the sight of the younger, the remainder of his words still lingering bitter in the back of his mind.  _A life means nothing to you._

Hongbin was a spoiled, full of himself, insufferable human being. Taekwoon hated him, despised him, but, for some reason, it was  _his_ words that had gotten under his skin. He hated him even more for it. He needed to get away from him, his face, his expensive perfume.

“I’m going out for some coffee,” Taekwoon murmured, peeling his eyes from Hongbin, who had been able to tell he was being stared at by the older, but as usual, chose to ignore it.

Jaehwan narrowed his eyes at him. “Coffee,” he repeated.

Taekwoon nodded, impatient, unlike him, he wanted to get out of there. “Yes, coffee. Want something?”

Jaehwan’s eyes got even smaller. He knew something was bothering his friend, but he knew better than to press him in front of work people. “My usual,” he said.

Taekwoon nodded and turned around, leaving the house. He needed a moment to breathe from that place.

\--

Taekwoon was a tough man. He’d gone through a lot during his life, lost a lot too and that made his skin grow thick. He couldn’t care about what people said about him, what they had to say about his principles or his life, he couldn’t let people’s judgment cloud his own.

Taekwoon was a tough man, he reminded himself as he sat in the coffee shop table, staring at his steaming latte as the thought of drinking had suddenly become nauseating. He didn’t care about Hongbin’s words, he was a spoiled heir of some multi-billionaire company and didn’t know anything about the real world, living in his little bubble.

No. He didn’t care. Hongbin’s opinion about his character wasn’t the reason why Taekwoon was upset. Because, well, he had to admit upon his stomach turning with anxiety that he was, in fact, upset.

Betraying all he thought he knew about himself, he started to analyze Hongbin’s words. Was there any truth in them? Had he lost his empathy and was now a someone who killed for money without a second thought? Had he become- Leo?

He took a deep breath, trying to get rid of that horrible feeling inside of him, who was starting to dig its claws deeper. Taekwoon played with his coffee cup, fingers circling around it as watched the smoke go up and dissipate in the air. He grunted when the smell made him nauseous again, lattes were his favorite.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and Taekwoon used it to distract himself, turning his eyes when he realized he still had to change Jaehwan’s contact name.

From: Hot partner  
There is a meeting about to happen, come back   
And bring me my caramel macchiato  
With double cream  
Add extra cinnamon this time  
Fast

Taekwoon wasn’t one to obey often, but it’s not like he would be able to force down his drink when that nauseous, so he figured he could just go back and give his drink to Hakyeon. He got up and went to the counter to get Jaehwan’s order of sugar on top of sugar with extra cinnamon, starting to make his way back to the house after.

He murmured one of his own songs on his way back to avoid drowning in his thoughts as he drove, focusing on the lyrics and not on the annoying turns his stomach was making. He hadn’t had anxiety sink its claws on him like that in a long time, hands feeling cold and head buzzing.

Once he walked into the house he basically plopped next to Hakyeon on the couch, handing him his coffee without saying a word. His soulmate took the drink hesitantly, glancing at Taekwoon as he murmured a thank you.

Jaehwan walked into the living room and was surprised to see how close together Hakyeon and Taekwoon were sitting when the older had always been so adamant on not wanting to have his soulmate around him at the house before.

The truth was Taekwoon was so caught up in his own head he hadn’t noticed it, Hakyeon was a safety blanket, of sorts, and without him realizing, he had gravitated towards his soulmate like he always did. Jaehwan walked up to his partner and he blinked himself into focus, becoming aware of what he’d done.

“Are you okay?” Jaehwan asked, sitting on the floor next to his partner’s feet, taking his drink from him and taking a sip out of it, content with how sweet it tasted.

Taekwoon nodded and leaned away from Hakyeon, hands going to rest on Jaehwan’s shoulders. The brown-haired was confused when he felt his partner playing with his ears, but when he saw the suspicious look in YJ and Zelo’s eyes he understood, Taekwoon couldn’t have anyone thinking he was being anything other than just polite to Hakyeon. _Jaehwan_ was his boyfriend.

As Taekwoon ran his hands through Jaehwan’s hair, all the others gathered in the room, sitting or leaning on the walls as Hongbin and Bang discussed something in the corner. The younger always stood far and professional, even if the relaxed smile on his lips showed he actually liked Bang.

When Bang finished saying something Hongbin actually laughed out loud, covering his mouth.

Aka, who was just behind his soulmate, laced his arms around Bang’s waist. “Don’t smile pretty at him like that, he’ll fall for you,” he said, joking tone and a smile on his own lips.

Taekwoon had to blink twice to actually believe he was seeing Hongbin’s cheeks go rosy at the comment.

“I don’t think he has eyes for anyone else other than you,” Hongbin said in an embarrassed tone, hand still covering his mouth.

Jaehwan chuckled. “Oh, how cute,” he murmured on the rim of his paper cup and both Taekwoon and Hakyeon turned to look at him with raised brows. “What? He looks cute,” he said again, louder that time and Hongbin seemed to have heard it, cheeks burning up.

Himchan snorted. “God, you’re going to break everyone’s relationships before we’re done,” he said and the whole room laughed, except Hongbin, who looked ready to flee the house and Taekwoon, who was still trying to deal with being around that many people when his anxiety was the highest it had been in months.

Jaehwan snorted, squeezing himself between his partner and Hakyeon in the couch. “Kitten and I are fine, thanks,” he joked, throwing his arms around Taekwoon, who just let himself be dragged.

YJ scoffed, sound too brief to carry that much irony. Jaehwan didn’t hear any words from him yet and he was already annoyed. “Are you really?” he asked.

Jaehwan raised his brow, something in the other’s look ticking him off. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

YJ shrugged. “I mean, you seem more like friends than anything, there is not much chemistry, I’m sorry, you don’t look in love,” he said, tone sarcastic in an attempt to somehow irritate the other.

Jaehwan didn’t care about what anyone thought of them, he wasn’t actually Taekwoon’s boyfriend, but the fact that YJ was bringing that up in front of everyone just showed he was trying to make him uncomfortable. Jaehwan didn’t like that.

Jaehwan laughed, wearing a big and very fake smile. “L and I just don’t mix personal life and work,” he turned to Taekwoon, arm still around his shoulder, noticing for the first time how annoyed his friend actually looked about the whole situation.

Everyone else in the room was watching, the air tense.

YJ sighed, long and dramatic. “Are you sure, because no one has ever even seen you kissing, maybe you need some counseling or something-” he began, but stopped immediately when Jaehwan moved.

Jaehwan knew Taekwoon better than most, so he knew damn well his friend would complain about what he did, but he didn’t care. Jaehwan used the arm around his friend’s neck to pull their faces together and he could only catch a glimpse of Taekwoon’s shocked expression before he pressed their lips together.

It was a very soft touch, Jaehwan’s lips slightly parted so he could fit them around his partner’s, head tilted to the side. Taekwoon felt his face flush from both the surprise and anger, knowing he would have to take it, there was no plausible reason for pushing the other away. Did Jaehwan really have to do that  _that_ night?

It wasn’t the first time they had to kiss on the job, but it was never that gentle, it was usually harsh, sloppy and handsy in an attempt to hide their faces or make people uncomfortable enough to avoid looking at them, protecting a disguise. It wasn’t a bad time, but it did feel like a job, like two actors kissing on stage.

To the others, however, it looked real, so much so that Hakyeon’s face paled and his jaw dropped. YJ pressed his lips so tight they almost disappeared, swallowing back the rest of the teasing he had prepared.

Jaehwan held the fake kiss as long as he felt necessary, brushing his nose on Taekwoon’s as soon as they parted, emulating a romantic act.

Jaehwan turned to YJ immediately after. “Hope that fuels your fantasies for a while so you don’t have to keep asking people to kiss in front of you so you get off,” he said, not sparing any irony in his tone.

Jongup snorted a laugh and got glared at. The blond shrugged. “You deserved that,” he said to his friend in a condescending tone, who flipped him off in return.

“Why are we all here?” Taekwoon cut off the interaction with the question, wanting to get away from there as soon as possible.

Bang looked at Taekwoon and then at Hongbin, as if he was waiting for him to speak. Hongbin, however, had this eyes trained to the floor and unfocused, lost in thought. “Hongbin,” Bang called.

Hongbin looked at the one beside him and after a brief second realized the room was silent, waiting for his announcement. He shook his head. “Sorry,” Hongbin murmured, then looked to the others, remembering what he had to say. The moment he did, he became bitter. “Well, you all know how Himchan, Aka and I were thinking about smuggling all the product by air in one go, as it’s safer.”

Taekwoon turned his eyes, he was too exhausted of people’s stupidity for the day, his best friend had just kissed him, he just wanted to go home and sleep the anxiety away. “It’s not safer, we’ve been through this, why do you have to have the last word in everything?” he said before he could stop himself.

Hongbin, in the middle of his speech, was taken aback. He looked directly at Taekwoon, as if he didn’t fear him in the slightest, as if he didn’t feel like slapping his face.

Hongbin folded his arms on his chest and narrowed his eyes. “Will you give the announcement or will you allow me to finish?” Taekwoon rolled his eyes again and nodded. “As I was saying- we were thinking about it because it would be safer and the first deadline is coming, but the people in Japan didn’t budge. They also said they had made arrangements for the pickup in the docs, so that settles that problem too.” Hongbin then avoided looking at Taekwoon as he was practically saying that he won.

Taekwoon had supported Bang and Jaehwan on the idea of smuggling the drug in two parts, as they had agreed in the beginning, making it so that the first part would not be Hakyeon’s responsibility, only the second. Hongbin and Himchan had tried to go against that plan, but apparently, they had come to their senses and accepted to stick to the original scheme.

Hongbin hated having to say Leo was right and he was wrong, but once he concluded the first plan was, in fact, the safest one, he wouldn’t go against it just to push Leo’s buttons.

Because he was mature and responsible, and not because his brother threatened to gut him if he did.

Hongbin sure kept his tone natural and chin up as he broke the news and went against his pride, as if he didn’t even notice. What he did notice, however, was the smug smirk on Leo’s lips, satisfied with the news.

Jaehwan sighed loudly, tired and confused with the plan changing so much. “So we’ll keep everything as we had agreed before, Aka will take the first part by sea, N will take the second by air,” he said.

Hongbin nodded in agreement and Hakyeon had to hold himself from sighing in relief. He would only have to fly out to take the drugs once, thankfully.

“So nothing changed. Hongbinie, you were just causing trouble, weren’t you?” Jaehwan asked, the use of the nickname ironic, but his tone light and filled with teasing. Just poking the devil with a short stick.

“Watch it, Ken, respect your boss,” Hongbin pointed his finger at the brown-haired and the hitman snorted.

Jaehwan raised his hands. “I do! If you were to meet Jisoo, you would too,” he joked and Hongbin laughed together with the others, who all nodded in agreement. Jisoo was a scary person and everyone knew that.

“Alright, alright. So, the first deadline is still the same, 26 days from now,” Hongbin said. Taekwoon thought he saw Bang’s eyes go wide at that.

“That’s 10 days earlier,” Bang said, having made the math in his head. “Did you change it without talking to me? I thought we had settled on the 24th.”

Hongbin shook his head, frowning. “It was always the 14th, Bang,” he said, not a doubt in his mind, he was the one that had made the calls.

The people in the room nodded in agreement, showing the leader had been the only one that got it wrong. Bang frowned again and that time he definitely looked troubled. “Okay, I got that wrong, sorry,” he said after a second, not saying nothing else.

Hongbin bit his lip, worried about how hesitant Bang looked, something was wrong. He decided to not ask in front of everyone, they could go over it later.

Hongbin turned to the rest. “The first delivery is much smaller than the second, we need to earn their trust now so that one goes smoothly too, we have to keep our word and deliver on the 14th,” he emphasized the fact and Taekwoon didn’t miss the frown on Bang’s face.

“Yes, sir, not a day after, sir,” Zelo said and saluted, Hongbin’s face softened and he couldn’t help to laugh.

“See, Ken? That’s how you do it, he has some respect,” he joked and Jaehwan laughed. “Obey and you shall not be punished.” Hongbin winked at Zelo, fond smile on his lips and the younger laughed too. “Okay, are we clear?” he spoke to the bigger group again.

“The 14th,” Himchan said and everyone nodded.

“Yes,” Hongbin said, then added jokingly, “dismissed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bye this is now a hyukvi fic ONLY  
> we should all just be like jaehwan, kiss our friends to prove a point sighs 
> 
> hope you enjoyed it, comments are always appreciated ok yes... see you pretties  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/beanguni)


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is called: cha hakyeon saves everyone's lives and we should thank him

“I need you to leave earlier and come back to Jellyfish’s main building,” Mr. Lee said, voice authoritative, obviously an order. Hongbin opened his mouth to reply but his father continued, voice harsh as if he was slapping his son through the phone, “be here by half past nine.”

“I can’t just leave, I have a lot to do around here,” Hongbin said in a low voice, glancing at the table where all the notes of things gone wrong or needing to be done were.

Joohyuk sighed deeply, trying to collect himself. “Be here by half past nine,” he repeated and as Hongbin took a breath in to answer, the line went silent.

He looked at the phone as if he couldn’t believe what had just happened, holding himself from throwing it on the wall across the room.

Hongbin sat on the table again, papers scattered and spread, handwriting of a lot of the men in the house on the notes, asking him to look into things or fix things. Hongbin had some time before he absolutely had to leave and head to the company, so he tried his best to get back to it, but YJ and Jongup singing loudly in the room next to his kept him from concentrating.

Hongbin then decided the best thing to do was staring into nothing, hand under his chin as he frowned deeply, almost angrily, tapping his pen on the table.

He huffed a breath of annoyed air through his nose. “Who does he think I am?” he murmured to himself.

Hongbin had woken up at an ungodly early hour, headed out to Jellyfish where he had 3 meetings in a row, had to skip lunch as he had no time, and from there left straight to the house, where he had been for the last hours. And then called his father, not caring about his frenetic day, telling him to go back to Jellyfish to probably solve yet another one of his problems.

Hongbin tapped the pen stronger, eyes unfocused as he murmured curse words to himself. He was tired of being treated as a machine by his own father.

“Are you okay?” Hakyeon’s voice was low but it still startled Hongbin, who turned to look at him. His frown softened.

Hakyeon sat next to Hongbin, leaning over the table to check what the younger had been working on, keeping a distance he knew Hongbin wouldn’t mind.

The pilot brought one of the papers closer to him so he could study it, an absolute mess of calculations Wonsik had made right next to Hongbin’s scribbled notes, some connected by lines that went carelessly over other words to get to the other side. Much like a high schooler’s notes, the owner was the only one who could understand them.

“I see why you look so stressed, it seems complicated, anything I can help you with?” Hakyeon asked politely, looking at Hongbin’s tired expression again.

The younger shook his head. “Thank you, it’s not anything anyone here can help me with,” he said and looked down again. Closed, direct and punctual, as usual.

Hakyeon nodded. “Of course,” he said, looking back the papers again. “Didn’t know you knew Japanese.” He brushed his fingers over some kanji characters he had recognized.

Hongbin looked at the scribbles he had made at the corner of the page. “Oh, yes, I do. I studied Japanese ever since I was a kid, actually.”

“You must be very good at it, then. Your handwriting is gorgeous,” Hakyeon complimented and Hongbin smiled.

“Thank you. I’m good, but I always think there are ways to improve myself,” Hongbin said. As his father said, there is nothing so good that it can be trained and perfected to be better.

“Do you understand what the Himeji speak thinking we can’t understand them?” Hakyeon asked, trying to hold back his smile and failing.

Hongbin looked at him for a fraction of a second to be sure he had understood right and when he saw the sly smile in the pilot’s lips he burst in laughter. “Yes, it’s ridiculous,” he admitted, biting his lip.

Hakyeon was happy he had finally something to gossip about that with. “Yes!” he said excitedly, but lowered his voice after, coming closer to Hongbin so he could listen to his whispers. “What are they even doing? That time Himchan and Jongup just started to talk about their plans for the weekend?”

Hongbin snorted, remembering, it was so hard to keep a straight face back then. “Hope that spa worked out for them,” he said and they both laughed together. When it died down Hongbin kept the conversation going. “I didn’t know you could speak Japanese too, is yours any good?”

Hakyeon nodded. “Yes, I struggled with pronunciation, but now I consider Japanese is my best language... my Chinese absolutely sucks and my English is very heavy accented compared to it.”

Hongbin’s eyes widened. “You speak three languages apart from Korean? That’s very impressive.”

“Well, yeah- for work. We are required to be fluent in at least two languages,” he explained. It took a moment for Hongbin to catch on, but he remembered N was probably not a full-time cocaine producer, he probably had a normal life too.

“Of course, you’re a pilot,” Hongbin said, feeling dumb. Hakyeon chuckled. “Do you- like it?” he asked before he could hold himself, something about N was very conversational.

Hakyeon took the question with naturality, even if he was surprised about the unreachable Hongbin being curious about him. “Flying is my entire life, I was born to be a pilot, I feel very lucky,” he beamed and Hongbin smiled back without even realizing. “Do you like your job?” he asked carefully.

Something is Hongbin’s mind screamed danger, told him to watch his words. He shouldn’t be too comfortable around anyone from there. But same as Zelo and Ken, N had a warm quality, their presence was always something positive. “Sometimes,” he said vaguely and Hakyeon thought that would be it, but he continued, “and sometimes I want to give up and run away.” He laughed dryly. “But I know how many people rely on me, I can’t do that.”

Hakyeon nodded, avoiding to look at Hongbin so he would feel intimidated, focusing on straightening some of the papers that were in front of him. “Yes, I hear your family business is not a small one.”

Hongbin looked at him, narrowing his eyes. “No, it’s not,” he said hesitantly, wondering how did he know that.

Hakyeon seemed to have understood his tone. “Jongup and Himchan gossip when they think there is no one around that can understand them,” he murmured, reaching for another pile and aligning the edges. “A lot about your company and wealth, but mostly your father,” he said and Hongbin froze.

Hakyeon looked at him after the silence began to stretch. “I didn’t know that,” Hongbin managed in a whisper.

Hakyeon nodded, but still kept from staring so the younger wouldn’t be uncomfortable. “Yes. That’s why I think you want to run away most of the time, working for him must put a lot of pressure on you,” he said and Hongbin sensed he should be scared. He was getting too personal, but something about N just didn’t feel like danger. If anything, Hakyeon seemed just as out of place as him, and that was comforting. “You look like the type that never stops, I can tell you come straight from work most of the time, all suited up,” he said jokingly, casually, laughing after.

Hongbin snorted. “I never stop, never. There is always some problem being thrown at me,” he agreed almost angrily, blurting out his frustrations. “I just wish I had more autonomy, not obey anyone other than myself, having to bow my head to him is the worst feeling,” he spat out, but regretted saying the words the exact moment he finished them. Hongbin thought that had been too much information about his personal life a criminal (for all he knew) didn’t need to know.

Hakyeon didn’t need to look at Hongbin to see him reprehending himself, so he gave the younger a moment. “Your dad sounds like a dick,” the pilot whispered, as if they were sharing a secret from the rest, as if they were friends.

Hongbin laughed, but didn’t answer, letting silence fall between the two. Hakyeon cleared his throat and got up.

“I need stuff I need to get back to, so…” Hakyeon said, taking a step back into the hallway.

“Sure, go ahead,” Hongbin smiled with his lips closed, tamed but sincere.

After the older was gone Hongbin focused on finishing up his things so he could leave, trying not to beat himself over how close he let Hakyeon get to his life, he couldn’t let that happen in the future, but it was already done then, he could find a way to punish himself later if he had the time.

He left the papers on the desk as he went to the kitchen, the door that led to it slightly open.

“Talk to Hongbin first,” Hongbin heard Zelo’s voice coming from inside the kitchen, where usually only Bang would be.

Normally someone who had just heard their name being spoken into a conversation would be tempted to listen to it, but nothing about their tone made it seem like they were talking about Hongbin behind his back, so he chose to knock as he always did.

“I will, but everything fits perfectly, if Hongbin is okay with it we can just go through with it,” Bang replied.

“Thank you, you know how much it would mean to me, he is-” the younger began, but as Hongbin pushed the door open he stopped, seeing who it was.

Bang chuckled. “We were just talking about you,” he said, not trying to hide anything.

Hongbin smiled. “I heard.” Bang was surprised and pleased by his honesty. “Can we talk about whatever you want to another day? Something urgent came up and I need to leave now to sort it.”

“Sure. Is this urgent thing something I need to know about? Or that Leo, Ken and Zelo need to be with you for?”

Hongbin shook his head. “No, it’s a personal matter, nothing that affects our business,” he said, professional as always.

Bang nodded. “Okay, good luck with that.”

“Thank you.” Hongbin smiled and left, knocking on both of the other’s rooms to announce he was leaving early, helping Aka with a few things before he headed out.

Already at the car, he glanced at his watch and cursed under his breath, knowing he would probably be late.

The ride to Jellyfish was quiet, he didn’t play any music, just let his angry thoughts take over the silence.

Hongbin and his father had been walking on thin ice for a while then, ever since he had stood up to Joohyuk for Wonsik and his grandparents their relationship had started to crumble. Hongbin had practically moved back to his grandparent’s home and would only see his father in the company, where he would take vantage of the work environment to act professional, cold and distant.

Hongbin’s father had also started acting more violent than usual towards his son when given the chance, using the abuse as a way to try and regain some of the power he had lost over his son. To his absolute dread, Hongbin always took it quietly, nonchalantly, not changing anything about his behavior after, so Joohyuk started to use a heavier hand, the bruises on Hongbin skin becoming darker, lasting longer.

At that late at night, Hongbin knew they would most likely be alone in the building and he was not happy about the idea of having some alone time with his father. He was in the main building, his father’s domain and that alone made Hongbin not want to be there, it didn’t even feel like Jellyfish to him.

He sighed once again as he stepped into the elevator, not having crossed a single soul in the empty halls, using his all clearance card to get through the heavy security and on the way to the last floor of the building, his father’s office.

When the elevator doors opened he went past the empty assistant table and knocked on the large door, before pushing it open. His father was sitting on the couch, sipping on some probably very expensive whiskey, swaying his feet lazily from side to side as he waited for his son’s arrival.

“You’re late,” the older man said without even bothering to take the eyes off the large window to look at his son.

“I was busy,” Hongbin said, placing his coat over the chair before he glanced at his watch. He was 4 minutes late. “I’m here now, what’s the matter?” he asked in a calm voice, sitting on the couch opposite to his father and crossing his legs. Work posture, always.

“No matter, I just wanted to inform something to you and since you’re never home anymore this seemed like a fit enough place to do it,” Joohyuk said, a heavy hint of bitterness tainting his tone. “Your mother and I will be out of town from the 16th to the 19th.”

Hongbin frowned, pausing for a slight moment. “Okay. That’s more than a month from now, a few days after the first drop off in Japan. Why the heads up?” he asked, confused. His father would usually go out of town for a few days, but normally it wouldn’t be a big deal, the company didn’t collapse without him, quite the contrary, Hongbin did very well on keeping everything on track.

“The beneficent gala is this year, Hongbin, and it’s on the 17th,” Joohyuk reminded his son.

Hongbin was confused for a slight moment before he understood what his father was referring to.

“On top of all I have been doing you’re also throwing the Milky Way Gala on me?” Hongbin asked like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Hongbin knew how defiant he sounded, he knew he should watch himself when they were alone and his father would get away with doing anything to him, but, as usual, when Hongbin was upset, he didn’t think of the consequences of his actions.

Mr. Lee turned his eyes. “I won’t be in Korea, there is nothing I can do about this, I can’t teleport nor can I change the date.” He made a pause, watching son enraged expression. His own went rigid, up to the challenge. “You’ll attend, the same way you have been since you were born.”

“You know that’s not all I’ll be doing. If neither of you will be here, I will be responsible for the this year’s signatures and the official speech, the one you and mom give since forever!” he said, voice going high, knowing about the responsibility he would be having.

The Milky Way Gala was a very important event Jellyfish hosted every 3 years, where a lot of money was raised and donated to charity. Seoul’s entire high society attended the event, wearing outrageously expensive outfits and eating caviar appetizers as they discussed how tragic world hunger was.

Hongbin thought the entire concept of the party was ridiculous, but as the son of the company’s CEOs and future heir of Jellyfish he had to attend, wear his nicest designer suit and smile for the pictures alongside his parents, act like the perfect family they weren’t. That year, however, they wouldn’t be there, meaning he would represent the company publicly for the first time alone.

“My first public appearance as the company’s official representative will be at our most famous and watched event, completely by myself, as I’m ankle deep in an illegal drug scheme,” Hongbin fact-checked, still not sure he was correct, voice heavy with sarcasm.

Joohyuk didn’t appreciate the tone, squeezing the glass in his hand to keep his anger down. Why couldn’t Hongbin just accept and obey him? It was tiresome to have to keep putting the boy in line.

“That has nothing to do with this, Hongbin. You’re making a fuss like you always do, it’s all very easy. The most important thing you’ll have to do is sign your name in a line, make a premade speech, smile and live up to the expectations,” Joohyuk said, as if it was simple.

It was not simple. Hongbin was the Lee’s only heir, so representing Jellyfish for the first time in a public event would be like an introduction to all their current and future clients at once. They would have a chance to pick him apart, analyze his speech, appearance, manners. Investors would take a look at him and decide if he was worth their money or not. He would be out and open for people to judge.

“Live up to the expectations,” Hongbin echoed, trying to picture himself in that situation. Wearing his work smile, bowing deep to the important people, telling funny and appropriate jokes so the older and filthy rich people would like him.

Wearing a mask, be what the others want them to be. He could do that, he was good at that, he just wished he had more time to prepare.

“I’m hoping you can do at least that,” his father said bitterly, attracting his son’s eyes up.

Something inside Hongbin ached, ‘at least that’, as if everything else he ever did wasn’t enough. As if giving up his young years to assume a tremendous amount of responsibility wasn’t enough, as if cleaning up his mess with the mafia and living in fear of having his family hurt wasn’t enough, as if taking his abuse silently and hiding its marks wasn’t enough.

“Well, I’ve been running most of the company for the last year, might as well take all the praise at that pretentious event,” Hongbin spit back. His father glared at him immediately.

Hongbin’s swallowed thickly when his father put his cup down and got up from the couch, walking to stand in front of his son. Hongbin felt small like that, being looked down on like an insect.

He was about to get up to be in eye level with his father, but before he could do so, there was a hand on the top of his hair, pulling his head back.

Pain came right after, but his expression remained neutral, calm even. Inside he was terrified, frozen, he couldn’t fight back. He felt helpless.

“You know how important this is, don’t you?” Joohyuk asked, hands shaking from the effort he was making to hold back his rage.

Hongbin faked a frown. “I thought it was simple, not a big deal, two minutes ago?” he ironically put it.

Joohyuk grunted and his fist closed further, pulled stronger. Hongbin couldn’t react, he only had once, and after it happened the abuse just became that more harsh, frequent. How could he have the courage to stand up for himself again when the time he did before only served to make things worse? Hongbin felt like a kid again, trapped, small, humiliated and tears prickled his eyes.

Only with getting the satisfaction of bringing his son close to tears, Joohyuk smiled and retrieved his hand, walking away from him. Hongbin felt like hyperventilating, holding his hands together so they wouldn’t shake, looking down at his lap and feeling the throbbing sensation on his head increase as the adrenaline started to go away.

“I did not say that it wasn’t a big deal,” Joohyuk said casually, as if they were just talking. “It’s simple, but by no means this is not a big deal. You know the statement you should make. That you’re like me.”

Hearing the words was like biting into a rotten apple, the disgust was instant and you just spit out what is in your mouth without a second thought.

Be like him, like his father. A lying, abusive, violent, twisted man. Hurt other people and not care about the consequences.

In some ways, Hongbin thought he was already becoming like his father. Participating in a scheme that would cause the harm of several people, contribute to tearing families apart, be a part of the black market, money coming from him and trafficking women, financing firearms. He was already becoming twisted. It didn’t matter to him he was forced to do it, he couldn’t sleep at night anymore knowing what he had become.

Hongbin lowered his head, a knot forming on his gut and still not able to form any words, he just nodded. Yes, he would be just like Mr. Lee.

\--

Sanghyuk was engulfed in a hug as soon as he opened the door, thin strong arms wrapped around his neck. The blue-haired placed a hand on Hakyeon’s back and rubbed it lightly, letting the pilot practically cut the circulation of blood to his head.

“Are you okay?” the older asked, placing a hand on the blue-haired’s face when he pulled away, caressing his cheek. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t see you after it all happened, it’s been ages and I’m the worst, I’m sorry, kid.”.

Sanghyuk smiled. “It has not even been a week yet. I’ve been busy, you’ve been busy, it’s fine, don’t worry,” he reassured.

Hakyeon stepped away from his friend and let him in. Jaehwan and Taekwoon, who were sitting on the floor playing video games, looked up at Sanghyuk, but didn’t greet him verbally, the moment turning awkward quickly.

“You don’t need to make a big deal out of this.” Sanghyuk felt the heavy stare of everyone in the room. “I had my time to freak out already, I’m fine,” he said hoping someone would answer so they could move on.

Sanghyuk kicked his shoes off and walked to sit on Jaehwan’s couch, but still, the silence stretched. The youngest sighed, frustrated.

“I’m scared and sad, but I thought things through and I know you have my back, so I’m okay,” he murmured, trying to clear the air.

Jaehwan smiled and placed a hand on his soulmate’s thigh, patting it lightly. “You can move here until we figure stuff out.”

Sanghyuk bit his lips hesitantly, but nodded, accepting the offer. In a quick, cat-like movement, Sanghyuk reached to where Jaehwan was close to his feet, wrapping his arms around his soulmate’s shoulders. “Thank you for holding my shit together,” he murmured, then planted a light kiss on his soulmate’s cheek, retrieving to his previous position right after.

Jaehwan seemed as if he had just won the lottery, grinning and almost glowing with happiness. “It’s fine, Blue. Oh! We could get those purple shelves we saw at the store last time to put in one of the guest rooms- I mean, your room for now. You said you liked those, right?”

Sanghyuk huffed. “Don’t get too carried away, dad.”

Jaehwan snorted at the nickname. “Don’t ruin this for me, brat.”

Hakyeon sat next to Sanghyuk on the couch. “Why didn’t you move here before?” he asked, looking around the place. It was very big, more than enough space for two or even six people. “I mean, it’s closer to the hospital than your own place, and you’re having more shifts there now than classes at campus.”

Jaehwan raised his hands in the air. “Thank you!” he said to Hakyeon, making it clear he had used that argument several times before.

Sanghyuk chuckled, but it sounded more emotionless then even he intended. “I- don’t like the idea of depending on anyone, Yeon, even Jae.”

“Why?” Hakyeon asked.

“It takes me back to when I was at the orphanage,” Sanghyuk admitted, trying to sound casual about it, but when he looked at his friend’s eyes, his soft expression, it just made him want to open up, the rest of the words flooding out of his mouth. “Life there was horrible, Yeon.”

“And being dependent on other people reminds you of that?” Hakyeon asked and Sanghyuk nodded.

Hakyeon didn’t know much about Sanghyuk’s past, as the younger was clearly not comfortable in sharing, but something was different that night, the blue-haired was finally opening up.

“It was like a prison, we rarely went outside. The people who were supposed to look after us mistreated us, if we did something wrong they wouldn’t talk to us… they would leave us without dinner, even,” Sanghyuk said, throat feeling unusually tight at the awful memories.

Something in Hakyeon’s chest ached, feeling sorry for the friend he’d learn to love and cherish. He wished he could protect Sanghyuk, but even though he could listen and comfort his friend then, there was no changing his traumatic past. “Really, kid? And you were there for years?”

Sanghyuk nodded. “Three years, until I turned 16 and was accepted at Hanyang.”

Hakyeon wanted to hug him, but he would probably get emotional and he didn’t want to take the focus off Sanghyuk. The pilot settled on placing an encouraging hand on his back, just letting the weight of it serve as a sort of comfort. “I’m sorry, no one should have to go through that, losing your parents and dealing with that grief was torment enough.”

Jaehwan and Taekwoon were just watching in silence, Sanghyuk wouldn’t often talk about his past to them either, they knew what had happened, but the subject didn’t come into conversation often and they knew better than to ask.

The friends each had a very hard time growing up, but in each other, they found the families they had lost or run away from. Those sharing times, even though hard, were good to strengthen their bond.

“It was really hard, my parents, Yeon,” his voice broke and so did all his friend’s hearts, “we were each other’s everything.” Sanghyuk began to get choked up, eyes starting to burn with tears, but he kept going. “When I lost them I thought I would never be happy again.”

Jaehwan was avoiding to look at his friend, seeing him like that was too painful to him, but he leaned into Sanghyuk’s legs, letting their skin touch so the bond could serve as a comfort, which the younger was immensely thankful for. Taekwoon, on the other hand, was looking at his friend with a soft, encouraging look, comforting him in his own way, and it was as effective as the gentle rubs Hakyeon gave on his back, his and Jaehwan’s bond. They were all extremely different and even on the smallest of details it showed, but as time went on they noticed those differences were bringing them closer together.

Sanghyuk took a deep breath, still not sure of how he got there. “When I got to the orphanage I was completely broken, and that place almost killed the last of hope I had of even surviving.” Hakyeon swallowed his own tears back at that, survive was such a strong word. “And yet, when I was free from that hell, it didn’t get better, it only got worse.”

“Why?” Hakyeon’s voice was almost a whisper.

“I felt _so guilty_ about leaving the other’s behind, the friends I had made there.” Sanghyuk cleared his throat, trying to sound somewhat stable. “When I met Junhongie on the streets again I thought it was a prank the universe was playing on me, throwing in my face I was responsible for that too, somehow.”

Jaehwan shook his head, not wanting to interrupt but finding himself forced to. “That’s not your fault, Hyuk.” Taekwoon nodded immediately, agreeing with his partner.

Hakyeon frowned. “Who’s Junhongie?”

Sanghyuk’s eyes widened slightly when he realized he shouldn’t have brought his friend’s name up, he was talking about someone else’s life, secret and name. But he trusted Hakyeon, and it was already done, so he sighed and explained, “Junhong is Zelo’s real name, we met at the orphanage when we were kids, he lived there too.”

The shock was clear on Hakyeon’s face. “Oh my god, really?”

Sanghyuk nodded. “He was the only friend I had for years. He’s a few years younger than me, so I took care of him, we shared the crackers I would hide under my mattress when there was nothing for us to eat and slept together when he would have nightmares,” he smiled faintly at the memories, but his voice lost its light as he continued, “but when I left, he stayed behind. I promised I would find a way to get him out of there, that I would come back to help him.” There was obvious guilt in his voice, Hakyeon tipped his head when he saw the younger twist his nose.

“But you didn’t,” Hakyeon whispered.

Sanghyuk’s eyes shot up to the other’s face, slightly offended. “Of course I did, I would never just leave him alone in that place. The problem was that when I did manage to get back for him, he had run away already.”

Sanghyuk remembered the promise he’d made Junhong, the fear of getting locked up in that horrible place again when he came back to try and get his friend out, and the crushing guilt he got when he discovered the younger had run away thinking he had been abandoned.

“I thought I would never see him again. I got the shock of my life last year when BAP gave him that beating and YJ brought him to me,” Sanghyuk swallowed dry as the images flashed on his mind.

Two men he now knew as YJ and Jongup dragging someone into his office covered in so much blood Sanghyuk only recognized his old friend when he’d stabilized him enough to be able to clean some of the red off his face.

“He almost died, and that was on me,” Sanghyuk said, Jaehwan shook his head again.

“That was not on you, Hyuk,” Taekwoon said before the brown-haired could.

“Yes, it was, Taekwoon. He ran away and got mixed with all that because _I_ didn’t get back in time, if he had died it would have been because of _me_ ,” Sanghyuk said harshly, eyes wide and angry, but softening immediately after, giving his friend an apologetic look.

“Is he mad at you?” Hakyeon asked and Sanghyuk turned to him again.

Sanghyuk huffed out a laugh. “No. I know this may sound weird and it’s ironic to say considering how you’ve met him, but Junhong is one of the sweetest people I know. I explained everything, how much I looked for him and how much I had missed him and he forgave me at the spot, he hugged me, thanked me for coming back for him.”

Hakyeon shook his head. “It’s not ironic at all, if I thought that way I wouldn’t be friends with any of you. I think there are always two sides to everything, and Zelo is a very nice kid. Now I just know why he is where he is and he does what he does.”

Sanghyuk nodded. “Exactly. We don’t talk like every day, but we’re slowly getting there, I spent like 4 hours with him on the phone yesterday to catch up. I hope one day we are close enough that I can help him to get out, but I need to be able to support myself first.”

“If he’s from your past he knows everything, then. Your name, where you study?” Hakyeon asked.

Sanghyuk nodded. “Yes, he knows, but he would never expose any of it to anyone, I trust him. Besides, if he wanted to tell, all the Himeji would know by now and none of them do, and they know we have history and everything.”

“The Himeji are not half as bad as I expected them to be,” Hakyeon admitted.

The blue-haired laughed. “Truly, they are not. I don’t know all of them, I don’t know Aka or Bang, but the rest seem okay. YJ is funny, Junhongie looks up to Bang a lot, I’m just not a fan of Jongup.”

Hakyeon frowned, he’d never had a problem with Jongup. “Why?”

Sanghyuk made a face. “I don’t know, his energy unsettles me, I don’t like anything about him.”

Jaehwan huffed out a laugh. “Jongup is normally not a crowd favorite, people are scared of him. If we’re talking people from the house I like Zelo, Aka and Bang- oh, and Hongbin, he’s great.”

Hakyeon nodded in agreement. “Yes, I like your picks,” he said and Jaehwan chuckled. “Hongbin doesn’t fit the picture, though.”

Sanghyuk tilted his head. “What do you mean?” he asked, partly curious, partly wanting to move on from the previous subject.

Jaehwan was the one to answer. “I’ve never seen anyone more out of place than he is at that house,” he said and Hakyeon nodded in agreement.

“He’s extremely well mannered for someone who is around people his age, basically. He never relaxes, _ever_ , he’s always minding the way he talks or the way he acts, tries to cast himself aside from everyone if he can,” Hakyeon gave a few examples.

Sanghyuk bit his bottom lip, thoughtful. “Maybe he’s trying to get a reputation or something, from what you’ve told me he’s just starting.”

Jaehwan huffed out a laugh. “Obviously he is, every time he sees a gun he shivers.”

Hakyeon raised a brow. “That’s not a Hongbin exclusive thing, I’m scared of them too.”

Jaehwan cooed at him and Hakyeon flipped him off, making the others laugh.

“When I meet him I’ll set the verdict,” Sanghyuk said distractedly.

Jaehwan snorted, not noticing how his soulmate had stiffened at his own words. “As much as we would love a psychic reading on Hongbin’s character, I don’t think you two will ever meet,” he said.

Sanghyuk gave a fake smile. “Yes, I meant _if_ ,” he corrected himself.

Jaehwan laughed and Sanghyuk was glad his soulmate was distracted enough that time to not catch up to his lie.

\--

“Hakyeon?” Jaehwan screamed his friend’s name into Taekwoon’s living room, not bothering with making any ceremonies. He’d let himself in, anyway.

He peeked into the kitchen, nothing. He walked to the big glass window that led to the garden, nothing. He couldn’t hear anything coming from the second floor, no tv noise, no shower. The brown-haired placed his hands on his waist, confused, before he checked his phone again.

From: Yeon  
nice shirt  
you look nice in red  
like the blood of your enemies

Jaehwan glanced around again, his frown deepened.

To: Yeon  
thanks, it’s gucci  
where the hell are you?

From: Yeon  
the gym, dumbo

Jaehwan was even more confused, considering the gym in Taekwoon’s place was on the basement, but he started to make his way there. When he started to go down the stairs he could finally hear noise, music.

“Yeon?” Jaehwan called as he opened the door.

“Hey!” Hakyeon replied excitedly, opening a big smile at the sight of the other. Hakyeon was in the widest part of the gym, where the wall in front of him was covered by a floor to ceiling mirror, the pilot looking at himself as he stretched sitting at a yoga mat.

“Hey.” Jaehwan walked to where the other was and ducked down to place a kiss on the top of his head, making Hakyeon smile. “How did you see my shirt?” he cut to the chase, curious.

“The panic room is one of the places you can the cameras outside, right there,” he pointed to the steel door that was in the corner, open. “I wanted to freak you out so I keep checking them.”

Jaehwan laughed. “You’re like a kid.”

“A kid with access to high tech, what did you expect?” Hakyeon said, getting up from the floor.

Jaehwan looked him up and down, he was wearing a tank top, normally he would be in oversized t-shirts.

“You look different,” Jaehwan observed.

Hakyeon laughed. “Is that your way of saying I look good?” he asked.

Jaehwan chuckled. “You always look good, Yeon, I’m just thinking you look- stronger,” he said, raising a brow after, looking at Hakyeon’s arms. Definitely bigger, more defined, explained how he was getting better at the self-defense classes, building resistance.

Hakyeon snorted. “It’s called having a gym at home, I’ve been working out every day,” he said, using irony to distract the other from the fact that he loved the remark. Jaehwan still noticed, of course, Hakyeon’s posture exuding confidence, more than usual.

“Ah,” Jaehwan said simply, nodding.

“I was just stretching,” Hakyeon said, pointing at the mat, “you should join me this time, I’m always scared you’ll pull something.”

Jaehwan waved his hands dismissively. “I don’t believe in stretching.”

Hakyeon snorted. “That doesn’t mean it’s not a thing, Jae,” he said, smiling, Jaehwan rolled his eyes. Hakyeon sat on the floor again. “I don’t know how you don’t get hurt when you’re out there wrecking bad guys,” he murmured, reaching over his open legs and crawling on his hands, slowly pushing his body forward.

“Well, if I do get hurt on the job it’s not for lack of stretching, I’ll tell you that,” he said and snorted at his own joke, but when Hakyeon raised his head to glare at him through the mirror he clamped his lips shut. The older shook his head when he saw the cute expression on the other’s face, smiling the frown away.

“As a dancer who knows the importance of stretching, I think you’re full of shit,” Hakyeon said, pushing his body a little further.

Jaehwan began to worry for his friend’s health, Hakyeon’s legs were perfectly straight as they conversed, his chest a breath away from being flush to the floor, head bowed down. He had never seen anyone do that from up close, it looked like every muscle of his body should be burning, but Hakyeon was moving his feet to a point then relaxing it, repeating the movement almost playfully, showing he was enjoying it. Jaehwan tipped his head, shocked, eyes running through the other’s body as if to try and grasp the extent he was pushing it.

“As someone who has never seen you dance, I’ll tell you, you have no credibility. You’re not a dancer to me,” Jaehwan said, thinking he was making it obvious with his tone that he was joking, but Hakyeon’s head perked up and his eyes flashed red.

Hakyeon’s expression neutralized immediately after and he raised himself from the ground gracefully, pulling his legs in and letting out a big sigh before he got up. He cracked his neck both ways lazily, gazed at his own reflection for a moment before he turned around to face Jaehwan.

Hakyeon walked, or rather stumped, towards the brown-haired and before Jaehwan could wrap his head around what was happening, Hakyeon had a hand on the collar of his shirt, dragging him across the room.

Jaehwan stumbled on his own feet and when he was pushed back he thought for sure he would fall on his butt on the floor, but Hakyeon had guided him to lean against a wall.

“What are you doing?” Jaehwan asked laughing, thinking for a moment Hakyeon would start a fight for him having hurt his dancer pride.

Hakyeon turned his back and started to walk to the opposite wall, typing something on his phone and connecting a cable to it. The previous upbeat pop song shifted to a calm one and as the traditional Korean instruments began to fill the room he recognized it immediately, familiar with it since he was a boy. That song had been a part of his life as much as it had been Hakyeon’s, it seemed.

Hakyeon was staring at his own reflection in the mirror in front of him, only glancing at the brown-haired once before he started to move. Dance.

Jaehwan didn’t have time to question before he saw Hakyeon shift in front of him, his face turning expressive with the growth of a sudden emotion the younger didn’t know where it had come from. It was small movements at first, the delicate rise and fall of his arms, the flick of his wrist, fingers perking up, but it evolved to something more as the singer’s voice joined the beat.

Everything about Hakyeon exuded grace and the movements flowed so easily one to the other it was like he was born to do it. _Promise me that when this moment is over and we meet again we will stand by each other._ He touched his chest and as he moved his hands away from it, his expression showed hurt, fear, his face telling a story as much as his body was. He moved fluidly like water, then sharp as a blade in the space of a second, matching the momentum of the song to perfection.

The pilot had his fingers together as if he was holding something between them, and as he twirled his arms around himself Jaehwan could almost see it, like magic. In a way, dancing was a reminder of the little magic they had in that world. _This is what we call fate, it's something we can't deny._ The chorus hit and Jaehwan’s breath caught as Hakyeon dragged him in, held him prisoner to the story, feeling everything with him.

 _You are a gift on this exhausting path of life._ Jaehwan felt his heart tighten when Hakyeon showed pain through his movements, torment hitting as if it was his own. The music stopped and the hitman thought it was over, but the beat rose again and the song came to its climax, Hakyeon’s fingers finally releasing what they had been holding.

The pilot twirled, locking eyes with Jaehwan before the next series of movements began. _Even if our love unattainable, I won't regret it because nothing is forever._ They were stronger, more intense, and it was like Jaehwan had been desperately in love all his life, now mourning the farewell of that love. _There are many things I want to say, but you already know them._ Hakyeon was telling a love story, a tragic soulmate story, and it was coming to its end.

 _The love we couldn't have in this life, the fate we couldn't live in this life._ Hakyeon was facing Jaehwan then and the brown-haired couldn’t blink if he tried, mouth bitter with dread as the dancer delivered the last part of the tragic tale. Hakyeon spun, legs angled and he finally stopped, extending his arm in the air, looking in the direction it was pointing at with sorrowful eyes. _When we meet again, some time in the future, please don't let me go._

The song ended and as Hakyeon kept himself still in the final position, Jaehwan could see for the first time his chest going up and down, showing that even if everything had looked flawless and fluid, it had required a lot of effort from him, physically and emotionally. Jaehwan felt winded too, somehow, but then again, he knew full well that’s what dancers did, they brought emotions to the surface you didn’t even know existed inside you, they moved with their souls in a way to touch yours.

The pilot suddenly smiled and it seemed so out of place when Jaehwan had just seen him experience such sadness.

“How’s my credibility, asshat?” Hakyeon asked between his sharp breaths, full of spark, satisfied with the other’s reaction.

Jaehwan’s mouth gaped, he couldn’t believe. He knew Hakyeon danced, but he didn’t know he danced like that. He was so graceful, a natural, he wondered why the older didn’t do that for a living.

“Yeon- that was-” Jaehwan began, looking to his friend and his smile grew even bigger.

“Beautiful, I know,” Hakyeon said, shrugging his shoulders, stating the facts. “Credibility, where are we at?” Hakyeon asked right after, drinking his water in large gulps, filling his cheeks. Jaehwan wondered how did he manage to look like an unreachable artist in a moment and a cute hamster in the next.

Jaehwan chuckled, lowering his head. “You were okay,” he murmured. More than okay, he wanted to say, stunning, breathtaking, magical even, but he felt there was no way he could just tell Hakyeon that.

Hakyeon huffed. “From the way you had tears in your eyes, I bet I was okay,” he said in a joking tone.

“You could see that, huh?” Jaehwan asked, raising his head to find Hakyeon’s bright smile, sweat sliding down his temples.

“That part I covered my eyes you gasped out loud,” Hakyeon accused, not able to hide the satisfaction in his voice. Jaehwan felt an embarrassed noise form on the back of his throat.

“I was just- caught up in all of it,” Jaehwan said, crossing his arms over his chest defensively. “I felt like you were telling a sad story.”

Hakyeon threw himself on the floor unceremonially as he laid down to rest, making Jaehwan laugh at how rough it looked compared at the delicacy he had just seen coming from him. Jaehwan sat on the floor next to him.

“The person who made the choreography said she was inspired by the lyrics of the song,” Hakyeon said, looking at Jaehwan close to his feet.

Jaehwan thought the older should look bad from that angle like all humans normally did, but he was finding out there was no unflattering angle to Hakyeon, all he could think about was how beautiful the older was.

“Was it your teacher?” Jaehwan asked. “The one that choreographed that for you.”

Hakyeon chuckled. “That wasn’t made _for_ me, I’m not that special,” he said and Jaehwan frowned. “This choreography is a big deal in the dance world, the dancer who made it won a big contest back in like 2006 with this choreography, people who like contemporary dance will end up stumbling upon it throughout their lives,” he explained.

“Well, it looks like it was made for you,” Jaehwan said with a low voice and Hakyeon let out an embarrassed chuckle, avoiding the other’s eyes. “I remember when this song came out, I was like fourteen, I listened to it a lot back then.”

“17-year-old me went crazy over this too.” He smiled at the memory, him learning the moves and wanting to do them over and over every day just to feel all those intense emotions. “Even if I’ve known and danced this piece for forever now, I don’t get tired of it, there is something about it that just touches me deeply.”

 _Well, it is about losing your soulmate, much like you lost your own,_ Jaehwan thought, but thankfully didn’t say out loud. “I could tell, you poured your everything in,” Hakyeon smiled at the compliment, “I don’t know how I’m supposed to kick your ass now, you just made me all sentimental.”

Hakyeon snorted. “Maybe that was my plan all along. Now we can have our self-defense class and I can finally put you on your ass again.”

Jaehwan smiled, patting the pilot’s leg. “You’ve never won any of our rounds.”

Hakyeon arched his brow and sat down. “I have, once,” he defended his pride.

“When was that? In your dreams?” Jaehwan deadpanned and Hakyeon huffed in indignation, getting on his knees in front of the hitman so he could slap his arms and shoulders left and right.

“That twister round, Lee Jaehwan, don’t pretend you’ve forgotten! The whole reason we’re here for classes, I won!” Jaehwan just laughed loudly, trying to hold Hakyeon’s hands and stop him, but there was no use, he was too fast.

“You cheated!” Jaehwan said, throwing his body back so he would escape the hits.

“I didn’t!” Hakyeon said, not being able to hold back his smile, because he knew he absolutely did.

“Oh my god, look at that face,” Jaehwan accused before Hakyeon launched himself forward again. “You bit my neck, you think I would just forget that?”

“Liar,” Hakyeon said laughing, slapping his friend some more, arms still too fast for Jaehwan to catch.

In the middle of the fight and screaming of “you did!” and “I didn’t!”, Jaehwan kept pulling back and Hakyeon kept crawling forward, so wrapped up in the hysterical laughter and flying arms the brown-haired didn’t realize he was coming closer to the mirror behind him.

All it took was Hakyeon raising his fist again and Jaehwan shoving his body back roughly to avoid it for the hitman to slam his head full force on the mirror, the impact so strong it was a wonder how it didn’t smash the thing to pieces.

The laughter ceased from Hakyeon’s side immediately as he became worried for his friend, but Jaehwan just lowered his head so he could hold it between his hands, still laughing about the situation.

“Oh my gosh, Jae, are you okay?” Hakyeon asked, hands frozen in the air, not knowing where to go.

“I think so, yeah,” Jaehwan answered, the sound muffled from the angle of his arms were, hands cupping his scalp in an attempt to numb the pain.

Jaehwan felt arms embrace him, pulling him delicately, Hakyeon’s warmth around him. The older placed his hands on top of Jaehwan’s, trying to help, pulling the other’s head to rest on his stomach.

The brown-haired’s head throbbed but he still chuckled, leaning on Hakyeon and lowering his hands, letting them snake around his small waist. “I’m fine, Yeon, it was nothing,” Jaehwan reassured, but the other still kept his hand applying a small amount of pressure on his head. It was helping with the pain, so he let it.

Hakyeon took his hands off after a while and lowered himself on Jaehwan, placing a kiss on where the younger had hit it, then another, then another, leaving a bunch of kisses on his hair.

Jaehwan chuckled, patting his friend’s back. “I’m fine,” he said again, but did nothing to pull away from Hakyeon, liking the attention.

“My kisses have healing properties, I’m just trying to help you,” Hakyeon murmured against Jaehwan’s scalp and the younger laughed.

“Magical kisses? You’re full of surprises.” Jaehwan smiled, closing his eyes and resting comfortably against Hakyeon’s stomach, cozying it up against the soft cotton of his shirt.

Hakyeon smiled, leaving a final kiss on top of Jaehwan’s head before he pulled away. “Do you feel concussed?” he asked, face so serious Jaehwan wasn’t sure if he was joking or not.

“If I was, you magic healed me, don’t worry,” Jaehwan said and Hakyeon’s frown softened a bit.

“I’m sorry.”

Jaehwan smiled widely, that kind that made Hakyeon happy to see. “Hakyeon, relax, it was an accident, I’m fine,” he said, but the other still seemed unsure. “If you want to give me kisses so bad you can just ask, you know.” Hakyeon snorted a laugh and he ran a hand on Jaehwan’s hair, fond.

“I’m not worried about you, I’m worried about Woonie’s mirror, can’t afford to change one of those right now,” he said and Jaehwan chuckled, pushing the pilot slightly, making him lose his balance and sit on his calves.

“You’re so nice, Hakyeon, so generous,” Jaehwan teased.

“I know, it’s because I care,” he said and Jaehwan almost cooed. “About my soulmate’s property,” he completed and Jaehwan laughed again, turning his eyes. Hakyeon got up, giving his hand to help Jaehwan get up too.

“Enough talking, you’re getting your ass beaten now.”

Jaehwan chuckled, accepting the help. Of course, even with the stretching and the mean headache Jaehwan had, Hakyeon still lost, sulking the rest of the night.

\--

“You know, one of the best things you did was buying a house with a heated pool.” Taekwoon heard a voice behind him and when he turned his head Hakyeon was already lowering himself to sit next to him, putting his feet on the water too.

Taekwoon huffed out a laugh, placing the pen on the page he had been writing and closing the notebook. “It’s not like you asked me to every day for almost a year.”

Hakyeon smiled, moving his feet in the clear, warm water. “I did, you’re the rich one between us,” he joked and Taekwoon smiled. “You came outside to write, Woonie?”

“Yeah, I needed some air, write a little, think about a few things,” Taekwoon murmured.

“Things related to what happened in the park with Hongbin…” Hakyeon trailed off and Taekwoon turned his head to look at him then rolled his eyes.

“Jaehwan told you already?” Taekwoon made a mental note to punch his friend in the gut.

“He asked me if I knew anything about why have you been acting weird and I don’t, so I’m asking you.” Hakyeon looked at him, but Taekwoon kept his eyes on the water.

“I regret the day I introduced you two,” Taekwoon murmured.

Hakyeon smiled and pushed his friend with his shoulder. “No you don’t, we’re both amazing people.” Taekwoon chuckled, he agreed. Two amazing, nosy people. “Ever since you came back that night from the park you’ve been acting weird, did Hongbin say something to you?”

“No- I said something to him and I’m beating myself over it.” There was no point in trying to circle Hakyeon, he had wet his feet in the pool already, they were not leaving until he got the information he had come for, so Taekwoon just let it out.

“You threatened him because he is annoying,” Hakyeon repeated what Jaehwan had told him, even mimicking his tone.

“It was not the threat, Yeon, I make a lot of those to protect myself,” Taekwoon said and let the silence stretch for a moment after. Hakyeon knew his friend enough to know he should wait. Eventually, Taekwoon continued, “it was the fact I did it just because he got on my nerves, because I told him to shut up and he wouldn’t.”

Taekwoon thought back to his own words and Hongbin’s reaction, it bothered him to even remember them. Hongbin was no criminal, but Taekwoon had treated him like the worst of them.

“Hongbin doesn’t know anything about who Leo is and what he has done in the past. He’s not scared of Leo like the others are, so he has no problem judging me and telling what he thinks of me right to my face,” Taekwoon said.

“And you think that’s a bad thing.” Hakyeon ventured a guess.

Taekwoon sighed. “I think he’s lucky he chose me to pick on and not one of the others.”

“Because you won’t hurt him just for annoying you,” Hakyeon spoke with more certainty then, he knew his soulmate would never do that.

“I don’t go after people that annoy me, Yeonnie, I go after people who try to hurt me or you guys,” the hitman replied, gazing into the water.

Hakyeon sighed. “So what’s the problem, Woonie? You’re telling me right now you wouldn’t hurt him.”

Taekwoon let out a bitter laugh. “I’m telling you now, when I’m calm and he’s not here with that smug smart-ass smile. When I was at the park and I said- what I said,” he almost choked up, Hakyeon pretended not to notice, “I felt my words were true, that I would actually hurt him just for standing up to me.” Taekwoon felt embarrassed and angry at his actions again, shaking his head disapprovingly.

“You care,” Hakyeon said, paddling his feet on the water casually.

Taekwoon’s head turned to him and he wore the biggest frown. “About Hongbin?” he asked with an exasperated tone. Hakyeon nodded. “I- don’t. This is not about Hongbin, Yeon. I don’t care,” he said and laughed, amused by the idea. “I think he is maddening and I want him to shut the fuck up, but- this is about how he is the first person in a long time to have the courage to tell me things I don’t want to hear,” he finally admitted.

“Like what?” Hakyeon was still looking at his soulmate’s face, analyzing his expressions.

It took a while for Taekwoon to answer, it was odd to verbalize something he had been trying to repress for so long.

“I- I hate the things I do, what I’ve become, Hakyeon. Leo is not someone who I ever wanted to be like. He scares me as much as he scares the others.” Taekwoon cleared his throat. “The reason why Hongbin’s words get to me is that they are all true. I _do_ play with people’s lives, I have a god complex, I’m cold, heartless and all the other things he has said to me.” He didn’t dare to look at his friend, eyes still trained on the tiny waves his and Hakyeon’s feet were making in the water.

Hakyeon glanced at his friend, the wonderful, sweet, strong man he’d grown up with, who shared the same values as he did, who he would die for, and sighed. It was no use trying to make Taekwoon see himself through his eyes, he knew that’s not how his soulmate worked.

“Woonie, you- you can’t change what you’ve done or the- lives you’ve taken.” Hakyeon shuttered but said it and Taekwoon nodded, he knew. “But you _can_ control what you do from now on. Leo only exists because you allow him to, you know that,” Hakyeon said softly, saying what they had talked about in their last fight but with a different tone.

“My fear is that we’ve become one person already,” Taekwoon said with a bitter tone, smiling emotionlessly. He’d opened the gate already, he might as well just let all his thoughts pour out.

Hakyeon slid an arm around his friend’s broad shoulders, rubbing them lightly, Taekwoon leaned into it like a needy cat. “Do you really think you’re a bad person?” he asked in a whisper.

“Yes,” Taekwoon answered with no hesitation, Hakyeon felt his heart ache. He _wasn’t_. “I think of Leo as a part of me, a dark part that I’m ashamed of. I’m just scared he has become bigger than what I ever intended him to be.”

Hakyeon caressed him again, gentle, kind. “If he has, the only person who can take back control is you, Taek. You’re strong, a fighter and this is _your_ life, you can do whatever you want with it,” he said and Taekwoon lowered his head, letting out a shaky breath. It was hard to believe his soulmate’s words, Taekwoon knew how much he was loved by him, his best friend would never think of him as anything less than perfect. Which he wasn’t.

“Thank you,” Taekwoon whispered, leaning away.

“For what?” Hakyeon asked, taking the opportunity to try to reach the notebook on the other side on his friend hip, getting his hand slapped in return.

“For listening,” Taekwoon said, a small smile on his lips as he watched Hakyeon rub his hand, sulking.

“You’re my soulmate, that’s my job,” Hakyeon said, looking at his hand and moving his fingers to check if they were working. Taekwoon almost snorted at how dramatic he was, it had just been a little slap.

“Thanks for believing in me too,” Taekwoon pushed the words out, always finding it hard to express himself.

“It’s not a matter of believing you, it’s a matter of seeing you for who you truly are,” Hakyeon said, focusing on making waves again, making them bigger that time. “I can see who you are perfectly, crystal clear, you just need to work on that too. You’re more than a pretty face, you know,” he joked. Taekwoon chuckled, but didn't reply. “Now is the time where you compliment me too,” Hakyeon coached.

Taekwoon snorted, wrapping an arm around his friend’s shoulder and pulling him close that time. Hakyeon leaned in and his hand started to go around his soulmate, sliding on the side of the pool until he felt the notebook under his fingers, his face lit up and- it vanished, Taekwoon pulling it away from him in a swift movement.

Hakyeon sighed, defeated, he wouldn’t be reading any lyrics that night. “You’re strong, you’ve survived bullets, you’ll live through Hongbin’s sharp tongue,” he announced and it was weird hearing Hakyeon say that, but Taekwoon smiled. “Maybe just-” he began, hesitant and his soulmate looked at him, expecting. “Make a peace offering, so he doesn’t have a reason to be a bitch to you anymore.”

“A peace offering,” Taekwoon echoed, sounding amused. Hakyeon pushed his shoulder in protest.

“Yes, asshole, a peace offering so he sees you’re not a horrible person and stop being mean to you,” Hakyeon said.

Taekwoon chuckled. “I appreciate the thought but- Hongbin means nothing to me, I don’t need to make the effort.”

Hakyeon bit back the response that had come to the tip of his tongue. “Don’t make it for him, make it for you. So you can have some peace.”

Taekwoon looked at his soulmate, there was something he was not telling him, but after a moment of thinking, he nodded in agreement. Yes, he didn’t care about Hongbin, but he could use some peace of mind.

“Okay,” Taekwoon whispered.

Hakyeon smiled. “Good. And- about everything else, something really important is to first change your opinion of yourself, then you can worry about what the opinion of people you care about is,” he said softly, hoping Taekwoon would read between the lines. Or at least accept it, since he was speaking that nicely.

Taekwoon frowned, confused. “I know what you guys think of me, you, Jae and Hyuk always have my back, that’s not the problem, I told you, the problem was-”

Hakyeon turned his eyes, pulling his friend’s ear and interrupting his this-person’s-words-destroyed-me-but-I-promise-I-don’t-care-about-them speech. Before Taekwoon could ask what he was doing, Hakyeon got up, shaking his wet feet from side to side so the water would splash on his soulmate.

After Taekwoon finished complaining about the sudden attack, Hakyeon finished his train of thought, going back into the house before his feet got cold. “Then maybe I wasn’t talking about us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ..... did i have to trick one of hakyeon's solos into the fic? yes, yes i did  
>  i hope we all survive today, much love <3
> 
>  
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/beanguni)


	20. Chapter 20

Sanghyuk saw a big, wide familiar smile in the entrance of the cafe and almost vibrated on his feet from excitement. The blue-haired let go of his soulmate’s hand and almost ran to the woman, pulling her into a tight hug as if he was trying to connect their bodies.

“Oh my gosh, I missed you so much, Hyogi,” Solji said, face buried in her friend’s chest, hands going up and down his back. Just from hearing the unique nickname he felt his eyes watering, he had missed her so much.

“I missed you too,” Sanghyuk said truthfully, he hadn’t seen his friend in a long time. He squeezed her one last time before letting go. “You look beautiful.”

The woman squeezed his cheek and he chuckled. “You look very handsome too.” She glanced around until her eyes found her target’s, Wonsik looked down in a reflex. “I see him, let’s go, I can’t wait any longer.”

Sanghyuk kept his arm around her shoulder as he guided her back to the table Wonsik was waiting on. “Be nice,” he whispered, seeing as the woman was already sporting a playful smirk, plotting.

Wonsik was nervous, to say the least, his heart was racing and he was pretty sure he was shaking. Solji was Sanghyuk’s role model, the one who made the boy choose his specialty in medicine, the one who took care of him when he was younger, that served as a sort of mother figure when he needed a firm hand, some advice, a shoulder to cry on.

Wonsik knew how important Solji was for his soulmate, her name had come up on their first date even, it was natural he would be nervous about what she would think of him, if she would think he was good enough for Sanghyuk.

“Sol, this is Wonsik,” Sanghyuk introduced the two, holding in his laughter from how utterly terrified the silver-haired looked.

“He’s even more handsome in person,” the woman commented, watching a red tint appear on the boy’s cheeks. Wonsik covered his mouth with his hand, bowing his head lightly in a show of respect.

“It’s nice to meet you, Hyuk has told me a lot about you,” Wonsik said after clearing his throat, shy.

The woman looked to her friend, squeezing his waist strong enough that he would complain. “What did you say, Hyuk?”

Sanghyuk whined like a child, making a fuss. “All the great things- ouch, Sol!” Wonsik laughed.

Wonsik could see Sanghyuk shifted to a more comfortable persona close to Solji, letting her poke him even if he was big enough to get her away by just blowing in her direction. “It’s funny you say you know a lot about me, Wonsik, because Sanghyuk is awfully secretive about you.”

Sanghyuk whined again when the small fingers pressed on his ribs and squirmed away from his friend’s grip. “I told you loads about Sik, I just left out most of the things you bring up to make him embarrassed,” he murmured through a pout, rubbing his side. Wonsik couldn’t stop smiling at how cute the younger was, he wanted to pepper his face with kisses.

“As if I would ever do that,” she said, getting glared at in response by the blue-haired. She sighed in indignation. “Fine, I’ll just have to ask everything now.”

The woman made her way to sit in the chair directly across from Wonsik, and even though he was nervous, he couldn’t help to notice how stunning she looked. Solji walked confidently but gracefully, making heels and jeans look red-carpet worthy, elegance exuding off of her.

She intertwined her fingers and rested them on the table, the way she looked at him alone making Wonsik swallow dry with nervousness. If Sanghyuk’s parents were still alive, he thought that’s how he would feel meeting them for the first time.

Sanghyuk scoffed when he saw Solji’s narrowing her eyes at Wonsik, obviously playing with him, and sat next to his soulmate, placing a reassuring hand on his thigh, caressing it as a way to comfort him.

“I just wanted to know more about you. Hyuk tells me you’re a CE student,” she began with a slightly serious tone, sounding like a parent of a 15-year-old meeting their child’s first boyfriend and wanting to know of his intentions with their baby. Which was not far off from reality.

“I am, I graduate this semester,” Wonsik said, fixing his posture as if he was in a job interview, mindful of how he was presenting himself.

Solji used a softer tone when she saw she was making the younger too nervous, she was just joking, after all. Not that she minded her baby’s boyfriend was scared of her, though, that could come in handy if Wonsik ever hurt him. “I’ve heard, congratulations,” she said and Wonsik smiled.

“Thank you.”

“And after you graduate, do you have any areas in mind you want to work in?” she asked, glad when she saw Wonsik relax slightly.

Wonsik nodded promptly, still stiff. “I have applied for a few companies already, my plan is to work as a security engineer for a big name.”

Solji pouted, turning her wedding ring on her finger. “I like that,” she said and Wonsik let out a breath of relief, which made Sanghyuk chuckle.

The woman then leaned on the table, looking more serious than she had thus far, staring deeply at the silver-haired and he swallowed dry again. “And with Sanghyuk?”

“W-What about Sanghyuk?” he asked, unsure.

“He likes you a lot, Wonsik,” she said, acting like the younger was not even there. “He talks about you like you’re his entire world, he gushes about how perfect you are,” Sanghyuk choked in embarrassment, “he loves you, Wonsik, I feel he would do anything for you.”

Sanghyuk blushed. “Sol,” he reprimanded.

Wonsik glanced at Sanghyuk, but that just made him blush too. “I- I would do anything for him too, if that’s what you’re asking.” Gosh, meeting Sanghyuk’s parents would have been easier.

“But will you give him everything he ever wanted? Will you be romantic and caring? Agree to buy a house with a big garden so he can grow his organic vegetables? Dogs?” she asked and Sanghyuk pretty much turned into a tomato, burying his face on his hands, embarrassed beyond belief.

“Oh my god, Solji,” the younger choked out from behind his hands and she smiled. He reminded her of her little girl, shy just like him. Solji embarrassed her daughter just as much as she did Sanghyuk, if that could serve as any consolation to the blue-haired.

“Shush, that doesn’t concern you.” She raised a hand to her friend, keeping her eyes on Wonsik.

The older cleared his throat to try and sound somewhat steady. “We haven’t talked about the future yet.”

Solji raised a brow. “Well, Sanghyuk wants the whole deal, he wants a romantic ceremony on the beach to make it official, gold band on his finger- and kids, he wants two, but only in the far future,” she said and Sanghyuk sunk into his chair.

Of course, the woman had to bring the awkward subjects the soulmates had not got to it yet, the future, commitment- children. They both had talked about how they wanted dogs before, but that was it, they didn’t want each other to feel burdensome by those subjects, assuming they would eventually just stumble upon them naturally. Well, that would have probably happened if Solji wasn’t in the picture.

Wonsik, shy as he was, nodded to the woman. “I want to have a future with him, I- I want the feeling we have for each other to be our guide to get to all those things,” he managed to say. He wasn’t one to often be able to verbalize his feelings, that’s why he worried so much about small romantic gestures, it was his way to show love.

“And you can promise me you’ll take care of him?”

“In the same way I know he’ll take care of me,” Wonsik replied, glancing to the side to see Sanghyuk was looking at him through his fingers. The older ran his hand through his soulmate’s arm and took Sanghyuk’s hand in his, looking back at Solji. “Ever since we marked, I promised myself I would do anything within my reach to make Hyuk happy.”

Sanghyuk smiled at Wonsik, so much affection in his eyes Solji smiled too. “That’s the right answer. You’re approved, Wonsik,” she said jokingly, but he let out a breath of relief in the same way.

“You’re too much, Sol,” Sanghyuk said, caressing the other’s hand again.

“That’s because I love you and I would do anything to protect you,” she said and shrugged, but then she looked at Wonsik with that intimidating look again. “Including murder.”

Wonsik knew it was a joke, but it made him choke up regardless. “You can take me off your hit list.”

She then smiled. “You were never on it, to begin with, I was just messing with you.”

“You were not just messing with him,” Sanghyuk pointed out her lie.

The woman laughed. “I was not just messing with him, but now I am! Promise,” she lifted her pinky, “I want to know more about him now, maybe I’ll end up liking him more than I like you.”

Sanghyuk frowned. “As if,” he said, sounding jealous.

They ordered coffee and started to get to know each other, Solji doing most of the talking at first so Wonsik would feel more comfortable. Same as it happened with Sanghyuk, as the conversation went on the silver-haired learned to look up to Solji, she was an amazing woman and had had a very hard and inspirational life. Wonsik thought that explained why the younger caught her attention so early on, she saw herself in him and wanted to see him succeed too.

“The first time I got into the surgery room with Sol I was absolutely terrified. It was obvious I was her favorite, I was so sure I would disappoint her I remember not sleeping the night before,” Sanghyuk confessed, taking a sip of his coffee after.

Solji shook her head. “I knew you wouldn’t. Most students in his class were stuck up rich kids who thought they were ready to be doctors and had nothing else to learn, but Hyuk was different. He never did more than he knew he could, I trusted him more as a student than some of my graduated residents, that says a lot. He had always been a good kid, very modest and responsible.”

“Yes, Hyuk is very special,” Wonsik said and Sanghyuk lowered his head to hide his growing smile.

“He never fails to impress me, in and out of the surgery room,” she said sounding like a proud mother. Sanghyuk giggled like an embarrassed child and Wonsik was startled at the sound, turning to look at him. “I’ve never had other student like him, that bright that young. You don’t find Hyuks that often,” she commented.

Wonsik laughed and nodded. “He’s a one of a kind deal, I know.” Sanghyuk made that sound again and Wonsik’s felt like squeezing him. “Are you still teaching?” he asked Solji.

She nodded. “Yes, I love it too much to leave it, but not too often now, this new job takes a lot of my time.”

“Yes, Hyuk told me you’re the main surgeon, I bet people come to you a lot.”

“She’s the specialist trauma surgeon in her hospital,” Sanghyuk said with a bragging tone.

Wonsik pouted. “Can you explain what that means so I can be impressed too?”

Solji laughed, amused, but not in a rude way, thinking of how to explain things to Wonsik in a way he would understand. “I take care of people who come into the hospital in critical condition, maybe someone who was in a car accident or shot and it’s not doing so well, I’m in charge of making the diagnosis fast to try to save them.”

“That sounds like a lot of responsibility. Isn’t that extremely burdensome?” Wonsik asked, cautious with his tone.

Solji nodded and huffed out a laugh. “Very much so.”

“Why do you do it?”

“Because I love it,” she said, holding a smile at the way Wonsik looked utterly baffled.

“Why?” Wonsik sounded even more perplexed.

“Because no day is like the other, I’m always learning something new, you never know what’s coming through the door. Also, the feeling of giving someone a second chance at life is indescribable, I watch people being reborn all the time, it’s beautiful.”

The blue-haired huffed. “Beautiful and stressful,” the youngest added the remark.

Sanghyuk had a lot of experience with trauma, considering the number of years he had worked underground, having seen pretty much everything from stabbing to dismembering, but it was truly not the easiest to deal it. Even if he knew choosing that area to follow professionally would mean he would be very successful, it was not worth the stress.

“Said the one who considered neurosurgery for the longest time,” Solji said ironically. “My round in the neuro department was a nightmare, _that_ was a lot of responsibility.”

Sanghyuk huffed out a laugh. “I agree, I don’t know what I was thinking, I’m glad I settled on surgery and cardiology.”

Solji raised her coffee, toasting to the statement. “It was a nice choice, you’re gonna be rich,” she said, making Sanghyuk burst into laughter.

Wonsik glanced between the two, watching how comfortable they were with each other, they really seemed like family.

Time flew by, Solji was easy to talk to, interesting, kind, had a lovely personality. Wonsik was happy to know she had been in Sanghyuk’s life for a long time, it was people like her that he thought the younger deserved to have around him.

They could have kept talking for much longer, but Solji had to catch the train back to Busan. She had to work the next day and had come all the way to Seoul just so she could meet Wonsik personally, which made him extremely flattered and also very thankful.

“Tell me when you’re home, okay?” Sanghyuk murmured, squeezing her lightly in his arms, closing his eyes. Having to say goodbye to Solji was never easy, he missed her terribly.

“Okay.” She ran a hand through his hair, scratching the back of his neck playfully so he would pull away laughing, she hated to see him sad. “Don’t miss me too much.”

Sanghyuk huffed. “I don’t even like you,” he joked and she chuckled, placing a kiss on his cheek.

“I love you too,” she said truthfully, then turned to Wonsik. “It was so nice to meet you.” She went towards him and embraced him too.

Wonsik patted her back and smiled. “It was nice to meet you too, I hope I get to see you soon.”

Solji smiled, pulling away and blinking at him. “Definitely will.”

After that Sanghyuk hugged her a good couple of times before she absolutely had to leave and not miss her train.

Wonsik and Sanghyuk went one way and Solji went the other, but as if the friends could read each other’s minds, they glanced back at the exact time.

Sanghyuk had a sad look in his eyes, so the woman did the first thing she could think of to make him smile, which was to make a series of gestures conveying the idea that Wonsik was so gorgeous that made her swoon.

Sanghyuk snorted and waved goodbye one last time, hugging Wonsik’s arm after, walking together back to his place.

“She is amazing,” was the first thing Wonsik said. “She’s so smart, but very humble. So strong and so beautiful too, even her voice is pretty.”

“Right?” Sanghyuk agreed immediately, glad to see Wonsik got a good impression of Solji. “She is incredible.”

“Well, she’s a friend of yours, I didn’t expect any less,” Wonsik joked, flirty.

Sanghyuk laughed. “Be careful, my boyfriend is jealous.”

Wonsik almost snorted. “I’m really not at all, but to be fair, neither are you.”

“I kind of am, to be honest,” he admitted. “I’m just good at hiding it, I don’t like that about me.”

“You’re jealous of me?” Wonsik asked, surprised.

“Of course I am,” Sanghyuk answered like it was obvious. “It’s just there is something about you that attracts other people’s attention- besides the fact that you’re pretty, obviously, it’s just- you, your aura, I don’t know. I notice people looking at you all the time and that makes me feel a bit territorial, that’s why I don’t let it show. I think it’s weird that I want people to know you’re marked, taken. It’s my problem, not yours.”

Wonsik chuckled. “People stare because I have tattoos.”

Sanghyuk turned his eyes. “I need to give you a mirror as a present.”

Wonsik huffed. “You don’t need to be jealous,” he said softly.

“I’m working on that, my love,” Sanghyuk said laughing, hiding his embarrassment over the fact.

“It’s not like I would ever want anyone but you,” Wonsik said with a light, bubbly tone. That fact was obvious to him.

“Right.” Sanghyuk raised a brow, doubting.

“I’m serious,” Wonsik said and Sanghyuk’s brow went higher. “Are you even serious right now? Don’t give me that look!”

Sanghyuk was taken aback by his urgency. “It’s fine, Sik, I wouldn’t be to hurt at you not settling just for me. I have friends who are polyamorous or have had open relationships- that’s just not me.”

“And you think that’s me?” Wonsik asked, shocked out of his mind. “Have you met me? I was a virgin before we marked, Sanghyuk, sex is very intimate to me, you know that already! And besides, just you? Do _you_ have a mirror?” he vented.

Sanghyuk chuckled nervously. “Okay, I’m sorry, calm down.”

“Why did you say that?” Wonsik asked.

“W-What?”

“Basically asked if I wanted to open our relationship.” Wonsik was still shocked, the idea never having crossed his mind.

Sanghyuk swallowed dry. “I don’t know?” he lied, Wonsik frowned angrily at him. “I just wanted to let you know I could try to be okay with it if you wanted to. I don’t know if I’m- enough for you- for your- needs?”

Wonsik stopped walking. “Are you serious? Love, you’re literally the only person I have ever wanted to be with in that way, you know that, where is this coming from?”

Sanghyuk shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said truthfully that time, he felt it had just been a misunderstanding. “I just want to make you happy at whatever cost, that’s what I was trying to say.”

“They should really make only one insecure person per marking, this is a mess,” Wonsik said and huffed out a laugh. “You’re the only person I’ve ever been able to picture having a life with. I know I don’t say it often, Hyuk, and I’m sorry if that made you insecure, you know how shy I am, but- I love you,” he said with hesitation, it was hard for him to try and verbalize his feelings.

Sanghyuk shook his head immediately. “No, please don’t think this is your fault. I was just being overly cautious- you know what, don’t worry, just forget about it.” He began to walk again, pulling Wonsik by the hand, trying to avoid the subject entirely.

Wonsik almost tripped over his feet, being dragged through the sidewalk. “Oh my god, I can’t believe you thought I would want an open relationship- I can’t believe you thought I could possibly want anyone else after I laid my eyes on you, Sanghyuk.” The younger lowered his head and walked faster, seeing the entrance to Wonsik’s building. The silver-haired noticed he was flushed. “All that because I said you’re more than enough for me?”

Sanghyuk punched the code and pushed the gate open. “I can be extremely insecure sometimes,” Sanghyuk replied simply.

Wonsik watched Sanghyuk let go of his hand and going to call the elevator, staring at the steel door as if he was trying to drill a hole into it.

The older calmly walked to his soulmate, wrapping his arms around him from behind, giving him a back hug. However tense Sanghyuk was, he relaxed at the other’s touch.

“I’ll say what I feel more often,” Wonsik whispered, Sanghyuk tensed again. “Don’t, Hyuk. I know I’m shy, but when we’re like this and you’re not looking at me it’s easier,” he placed a soft kiss on the other’s neck and he melted again, “I’ll work on it, on saying things, it's just- you know I’m better with just showing them.”

Sanghyuk nodded and when they stepped into the elevator, Wonsik turned them away from the mirror again.

“I know, that’s fine, Sik, I like that about you, when you find a way to show me how you feel,” he said truthfully. It was just he liked to hear it sometimes too.

Wonsik placed another kiss, longer that time, and Sanghyuk leaned on him some more. When the elevator doors opened they made their way to the apartment like that, Wonsik embracing his love protectively and Sanghyuk giggling when the older insisted on opening the door like that, missing the keyhole a couple of times before he got it right.

As soon as the door closed behind them Wonsik’s arms fell from around Sanghyuk and the younger turned to hug his soulmate and say again he was sorry to have brought that up, he shouldn’t have.

What he was met with was a kiss, but not a gentle one, seeing as Wonsik’s tongue was urgent in his mouth and he had been pushed against a wall. The silver-haired, unprecedentedly, guided the kiss, pressing his body against Sanghyuk’s suggestively as his hand crawled to the back of his neck, assuring he would be the one keeping the pace, controlling.

Sanghyuk didn’t have to think to respond to anything Wonsik was doing, their souls so in sync he just gave back as he received. That didn’t mean he wasn’t surprised to have Wonsik guiding him, to not have the kiss going slow and gentle as they both learned in the past it was how they preferred. It was pleasant, though, very much so, and as Wonsik pressed his hips forward he could tell the older thought that too.

Wonsik broke the kiss to leave Sanghyuk breathing heavily, and in the next instant his mouth was sucking on the skin of his neck, and the younger could tell he wanted to leave a mark.

Sanghyuk threw his head back and let him, letting out low hums of approval, hand crawling inside Wonsik’s shirt and caressing his back.

“What are you doing?” Sanghyuk asked between long breaths.

“Showing you,” Wonsik answered after taking his lips off his soulmate’s neck.

Sanghyuk thought he would be kissed again right after, but the older wrapped his arms around his soulmate and dragged him to the side, throwing them both on bed, legs on either side of him. Sanghyuk was surprised again to see Wonsik guiding him, controlling the moment, but he fell into the submissive role just as well, being drowned in an urgent kiss, a desperate hand clasping at the back of his neck. The blue-haired was confused about why Wonsik was suddenly so dominant, but as the older gave himself, the bond opened and the younger could read his very soul. It wasn’t dominance, it was desperation, an unstoppable need to show him what his words couldn’t, so strong Sanghyuk felt a tug in his core. He was extremely loved.

The older broke the kiss so he could pull Sanghyuk up to sit and take his shirt off, sliding his own off the next moment. Wonsik only had a second to catch a glimpse of awe in his soulmate’s eyes before he started to kiss down his chest, biting and sucking marks in the pale skin, heart beating so fast it was like they were touching for the first time, like everything was new.

Sanghyuk’s lips dried as he watched Wonsik drop lower and lower on his body, breathing quickening. The older held the other’s hips and pulled them up, a silent request to which Sanghyuk complied to immediately, lifting his body from the mattress so Wonsik could pull his pants and underwear off in one go, surprising the younger once again.

The blue-haired had nothing but a moment before Wonsik licked his lips and took him into his mouth, making him gasp.

“I don’t know what was in that hair dye, but I don’t hate Silver Sik,” Sanghyuk said between broken gasps and repressed moans and when Wonsik raised his eyes to look at him they were filled with amusement.

Sanghyuk loved taking care of Wonsik, holding him like he was precious, but he didn’t mind his precious treasure throwing him around like he was doing right then. However good it was to go in that quick pace, Wonsik ended up being too eager and he took Sanghyuk too deep too soon, making himself gag.

Sanghyuk’s hand was near his face the next moment, caring. “Love, please calm down, you’ll hurt yourself,” he said worriedly, but Wonsik protested by taking him just as deep as before, proving a point.

Wonsik bobbed his head in a fast rhythm and Sanghyuk’s hand ended up in his hair, not pulling or guiding, but accompanying the movement. The silver-haired brazed his teeth over the head and Sanghyuk held his breath, who was released as a moan when Wonsik swirled his tongue around it.

“Wonsik, this is torture, don’t make me beg for you,” Sanghyuk grunted and when Wonsik nested the tip of his cock on his mouth and hummed teasingly the younger moaned loudly. “ _Fuck_ -” he hissed under his breath.

Wonsik didn’t have time to think about or feel embarrassed about anything he was doing, the only thought in his mind was giving himself to the man in his arms with no restrains, show he was only his.

The older kissed the tip of the length before he started dropping lower, and before he knew it his tongue was teasing Sanghyuk’s entrance, his hands holding the cheeks apart to give him more access.

The younger didn’t have time to question what had gotten into his soulmate before the delicious warmth was pushing inside him and he just relaxed, throwing his head back and moaning and cursing whatever came to his throat, head spinning with the reminder of a kind of pleasure he hadn’t felt in a long time.

The younger liked being in charge, he liked to be on top of everything, to control the moans Wonsik let out mid ecstasy, when he was inside him, Sanghyuk got drunk off of it. But that night, Wonsik was taking a sip of those feelings too.

The older leaned away for a moment so he could get up and go to his bedside table, grabbing the lube so he could start stretching Sanghyuk open. When the younger saw Wonsik standing next to him, still clothed, he reached to open the button of his jeans. The older let him, watching it from above as Sanghyuk’s trembling hands undressed him.

Wonsik was discovering there were a lot of vantages of taking charge, one of them was seeing Sanghyuk’s confidence replaced by his raw desire, falling apart, focusing only on being guided and feeling good.

Sanghyuk was moving to take Wonsik into his mouth too, but the older had other plans, going back to where he was before, making the blue-haired frown disapprovingly. The frown softened when Wonsik’s wet finger was at his entrance and his mouth was kissing him ardently.

“I want you so bad,” Wonsik murmured against his soulmate’s gaping mouth, the first finger sliding in easy. “And you’re the only one I will ever want,” he continued and curled his finger, making Sanghyuk whimper, at his mercy.

Wonsik positioned the second finger and Sanghyuk took it easily like the first, humming satisfied at the friction it caused. The older circled his fingers and his soulmate jolted in his arms. “Sik-” Sanghyuk called between a gasp when his soulmate brushed over the sensitive spot inside of him.

“Got it?” Wonsik asked and Sanghyuk whimpered as he brushed the spot again.

Wonsik nuzzled at the side of Sanghyuk’s face, the small noises he was making enough of a response.

“I’m yours,” Wonsik whispered as he slid the third finger and Sanghyuk gasped again. “Only yours- forever.”

Sanghyuk’s head was clouded with pleasure, but the other’s words were exactly what he needed. _I’m yours too,_ he wanted to reply to the man that meant everything to him, _you’re all I need._

Wonsik didn’t feel he needed to work the third finger for too long, it was clear Sanghyuk was ready, clawing at his back, kissing him like he was drowning, whining in his mouth. He took his fingers off Sanghyuk gently and stroked himself with lube, getting ready.

The older found himself insecure when he realized he was unsure on what to do next, but just like he did every time, Sanghyuk felt it through their bond and pulled him into a gentle reassuring kiss, taking back the lead just for a moment so Wonsik could get comfortable again. Wonsik switched parts just as naturally as Sanghyuk did, waiting and watching as the younger placed a pillow on the bed and laid with his stomach on top of it, silently showing how he wanted his soulmate.

Wonsik bit his lip with the views, eyes running through the other’s body and when he realized, his hands were running on it too.

Sanghyuk felt the light brush of Wonsik’s fingers become nails digging on his skin, lips kissing his back and a hand squeezing his butt so strong he knew, once again, it was to leave a mark. He needed to remember to look away from Wonsik more often so he would have the courage to do things like that.

Wonsik swallowed dry as he lowered his body on top of Sanghyuk’s, but the moment their skins touched, his instincts took over, he just knew what to do. His hands found Sanghyuk’s waist and Wonsik pulled him a little rougher than he intended to arch his hips higher, positioning the head of his cock on the other’s entrance.

Sanghyuk held his breath when the tip slid in, his hand fisting in the sheets as he made the effort to not moan. He had missed it, having someone inside of him, but having Wonsik in that position just made everything much better than what he’d ever experienced before. Wonsik felt like he would pass out as he pushed in slowly, it was so good, even better than what he’d imagined.

Sanghyuk’s grip on the sheets softened when Wonsik’s hand found his, fingers lacing gently on each other, and as he pushed further inside, the younger squeezed it instead of the crumpled fabric.

Wonsik went slow, getting used to the new sensation, to how good it was to make Sanghyuk feel like that, trembling, grunting softly. The older always liked that part of sex with Sanghyuk, when his soulmate would start to fall apart and all the composure he had started to fade, his confident voice turning to low whimpers, his hand gripping on whatever it could reach to ground himself.

“You feel- amazing,” Wonsik said and kissed the other’s shoulder, finally completely sheathed inside.

Sanghyuk’s answer was to sigh, or maybe whimper, or maybe moan, the older wasn’t sure. Wonsik brushed away the blue hair from the back of the other’s neck so he could begin to leave a trail of kisses there, waiting for him to adjust.

With every kiss Sanghyuk felt himself getting needier, the weight of Wonsik’s body on top of his perfect, the tongue pressing on his skin exactly what he needed.

Wonsik’s hand went back to the blue hair and Sanghyuk felt it being pulled, tilting his head. “Can I move, baby?” the older whispered in his ear and the younger’s mind went blank for a second. He knew he wasn’t imagining the dirty tone, the tug on his strands, Wonsik’s fingers leaving his own to brush the side of his body just to make him get goosebumps. Wonsik was teasing him.

“Y-yes.” As Sanghyuk shuttered, he realized Wonsik’s effort was successful.

When Wonsik confirmed the other was okay, he dropped the rest of his weight on his back, his hand anchoring on Sanghyuk’s hip again and pulled out slowly, painfully slow, pushing in again right after.

At first, Sanghyuk didn’t know if what he felt on Wonsik’s lips against his neck was a smile over his wrecked state, but when the older thrust a bit stronger and he whimpered, he knew it was. Wonsik was loving it, every passing second he got more confident, he was loving to see his small gestures and teasing were getting Sanghyuk to fall apart.

Who knew, this leading thing might be for him too.

Wonsik began to build a pace, slow at first like Sanghyuk had always been with him, gentle, romantic, but- he wasn’t Sanghyuk. And he wanted more.

The pace became faster, not rough by any means, Wonsik still lovingly leaving kisses on Sanghyuk’s neck, but the pulling of the hair was there, the hand on his the hips gripping stronger than needed, nails digging on the soft skin.

Suddenly, the kisses became bites, and as Sanghyuk whimpered and willingly stretched his neck out to him, the lips began to suck and leave marks again, smiling in an almost evil way at the noises he received in response.

Wonsik, normally shy and hesitant, was giving himself to what he desired, not for a moment self-conscious of his actions, he trusted Sanghyuk more than anything, he loved Sanghyuk more than anything.

Both started to moan loudly, almost showing off to each other as Wonsik kept the rhythm just right, Sanghyuk arching his back and lifting his hips to slam against his soulmate’s, trying to make him go deeper.

“Faster, please-” Wonsik heard the other’s small, broken voice and bit his shoulder as he slid himself out to the tip and slammed back in till the base in a strong stroke.

“Like that?”

When Sanghyuk moaned loudly and squirmed under him Wonsik knew that had felt good, so he did it again, and again, stronger, faster. Sanghyuk just about lost his mind, every time Wonsik went inside of him feeling better, the need to scream getting bigger.

“Sik- Plea- I-” Sanghyuk tried different phrases but none of them worked, so he just whimpered and moaned, feeling the pleasure starting to build up.

“What, baby?” Wonsik whispered lowly, hoarsely, in his ear. Sanghyuk almost choked on air. He realized then the nickname had also been a way to tease him. Wonsik was loving it. “Tell me what you want, baby.”

“Fuck-” Sanghyuk cried, hopelessly turned on, dazed even. “Touch me, I need-”

Wonsik didn’t wait for him to finish, placing both hands on his hips and manhandling him effortlessly to stand on his knees, creating a space under the bed and the younger’s body. Sanghyuk was caught by surprise once again, getting to the point he wanted to turn and check if that was actually Wonsik in bed with him.

The older’s hand found Sanghyuk’s hip to keep the rhythm again as the other began to run on his back, brushing on top of their mark, the reminder they belonged to each other, Sanghyuk letting out a cry as he did so. When Wonsik had touched their mark, for a moment it was like they were soulbonded, not two equal but different souls, but one shared in two bodies, it was like he was invaded by everything the other was feeling.

“Hyuk, did it hurt?” Wonsik asked, unsure if the noises leaving the other’s mouth were entirely from pleasure.

“N-No.” Sanghyuk choked when Wonsik spread his hand on top of the mark, letting his head fall on the mattress.

It was so new, he knew soulmate marks were special and felt different when touched by their matches, but the way he was feeling then was a result of the magic he had inside of him, the sensibility he was born with. He couldn’t help but feel envious of soulbonded people, he’d never felt as close to anyone as he did then, and it was splendid. It was almost as if he could feel everything Wonsik was feeling, and it was wonderful, Wonsik was wonderful.

“It’s so good, so good,” Sanghyuk managed to say, overwhelmed.

Wonsik let his hand there for a while as he moved, but the cries Sanghyuk was letting past his lips were starting to bring him close to orgasming, so he took it away, the younger letting out a gasp as if he had emerged from deep water, heaving.

Wonsik’s hand began to wander around the other’s body, the way his back was arched making him lust even more. He was really close.

The older’s hand slid around Sanghyuk to find his cock, dripping and hanging needly, and if Wonsik had any more time he thought he would tease him, but he didn’t have that long. Wonsik stroked Sanghyuk fast and the younger was glad he had his voice muffled by the mattress, because he began to throw his hips back to slam against Wonsik’s as he felt himself getting there.

One stroke, one thrust, one wet kiss on top of Sanghyuk’s mark and he came, knees threatening to give in as he grunted into the sheets, mind blanking as he coated Wonsik’s hand, that feeling of being one with his soulmate taking him as the older’s mouth traced the top of their mark.

The moment Sanghyuk came Wonsik let himself go, thrusting a few times before filling him too, his weight falling on the other’s back as he felt his body numbing.

Wonsik rested his forehead between Sanghyuk’s shoulder blades, panting together with him, not too sure when he would be able to move.

The answer came quickly when the younger couldn’t hold the weight on his back and collapsed on the bed, Wonsik falling on top of him, both starting to laugh as the older rolled away to not hurt him.

“I’m sorry, mon chéri,” Wonsik said laughing, pulling Sanghyuk into his arms.

“That’s okay.” They were still giggling when their mouths found each other again, kissing deeply, legs tangled as they rolled around each other.

“We are definitely doing this again,” Wonsik said in a low whisper once they parted.

“That was amazing, but-” Wonsik frowned. “I can’t believe that just happened, Wonsik, oh my god.”

“What do you mean?” he asked, confused.

Sanghyuk laughed, holding the other’s face. “You’re a _tease_ , Kim Wonsik.” The silver-haired pursued his lips.

“I’m not,” he denied, no strength to his words.

“You are and you’re good at it, a natural. You’re way harsher than what I expected, though, I bet I have marks all over me,” the younger commented casually and Wonsik flushed. His eyes glanced down to Sanghyuk’s neck and he could see that was right.

“It was the- hair dye,” he joked. Sanghyuk felt Wonsik’s shyness through the bond, he was embarrassed.

Sanghyuk snorted. “Oh, was it? I see my Red Sik is back, though,” he said, kissing one of Wonsik’s rosy cheeks. “It’s okay if I want to meet Silver Sik from time to time, right? I don’t think that’s cheating, I think it’s okay.”

Wonsik full on laughed that time, shaking his head yes. It was definitely okay.

\--

“Hongbin, I need to talk to you,” Bang waited until there was no one around to call the younger, peeking from inside his room.

Hongbin nodded and followed him into the kitchen, letting Bang close the door behind them. Hongbin usually avoided being alone with anyone in the house behind a closed door ever since Jongup shoved him against a wall and accused him of playing seduction games, but Bang had never even stood too close to him, so he saw no threat in being alone in a room with him.

“What’s wrong?” Hongbin asked, leaning on the wall next to the door and crossing his arms over his chest. He wouldn’t want to stand too close to the sinks and dirty up his Tom Ford suit with cocaine paste, after all.

“You and I have been dealing with everything together ever since this started,” he began hesitantly and the younger nodded in agreement, so he continued, “I think it’s safe to say we have good communication too.” Hongbin nodded again. “I like the fact that we agree on something before going out and doing it- and Hongbin, you know how vital you’ve been to the process, everything runs perfectly when you’re the one in charge of it.”

“I feel like you’re making an award speech, did I win best employee?” Hongbin joked and Bang’s hard expression softened slightly so he could laugh.

“If I had one I would give it to you.” Hongbin chuckled, but Bang cleared his throat and continued with a more serious tone, “Well, I’m the one that made the mistake now and even though I know how to fix it, I thought you should know first.”

“What did you do?” Hongbin asked with a frown.

“I overestimated myself, I can’t do all I said I would do alone, I’ve been struggling for weeks- and it made the production late,” he said and Hongbin leaned away from the wall, eyes widening. Bang sighed. “I tried upping my hours here to make it right, but there are waiting periods between bleaches and refinement I just can’t cut down on.”

“What does this mean for us? We can’t deliver on the 14th?” Hongbin asked.

“That’s why I thought I should tell you as early as I could, no,” he began and Hongbin lowered his head, thinking about all the calls he would have to make to fix that situation, to change the deadline, all the money lost. “If I continue to do this alone, no,” he added and Hongbin raised his eyes, pulled from his thoughts.

“You’re thinking about bringing someone new in?” Hongbin asked and for some reason, his heart raced, afraid of the idea.

Bang nodded. “There is no one here who can do the job I do, it’s too complicated, too much chemistry and precision. Teaching one of mine or Jisoo’s would take longer than bringing someone who knows their way around labs already, considering our first deadline is around the corner.”

Hongbin listened and thought about the idea. Finding someone new would not be difficult, his company had scientists and chemists by the dozens, but could any of them be trusted? What they did was very illegal, bringing in an outsider would mean more room for mistakes, for being stabbed in the back, because as it was then, he trusted the people in the house, he wouldn’t be able to say that for the stranger.

“Bang, I don’t know,” Hongbin said, shaking his head.

“I wouldn’t ask if we had any other way.”

Hongbin didn’t answer for a while. “You really can’t get one of the others to do it with you?”

“I really can’t, I need someone else. I’ve asked Aka to try and help me, but it was no good, that’s why I’m telling you.”

Hongbin took a deep breath, the deadline going through his head, it was so close, the ball right after. So much stress, changing it would make it even worse. “Okay, I need to find someone then, fast.”

“Well, here is the thing, I have someone in mind,” Bang said and Hongbin looked at him through a frown. He didn’t like that Bang seemed to have been doing things behind his back. “I would never bring someone new without talking to you first, Hongbin,” he said as if he was reading the younger’s thoughts.

“But you hid this from me for almost a week, because I know at the meeting you already knew something was wrong,” Hongbin accused, all too knowing.

Bang nodded. “I did,” he admitted. “I was the one that fucked up, I wanted to try and fix it by myself, but I couldn’t, so now I’m telling you,” he said calmly, truthfully. He wasn’t intimidated by Hongbin, but they were partners and he always listened and helped him, he deserved at least the same back.

“So you think you’ve found someone who is up for this?” Hongbin asked, going past the scolding phase, he wasn’t Bang’s mom nor was he interested in having a fight. There was a problem and apparently, Bang had the solution, so it was best to get that over with.

“If you agree,” he emphasized the fact, wanting Hongbin to feel secure about that. “I can talk to him and have him come over later today,” Bang said and shrugged, as if he knew the man on his mind would take the proposition in a second.

“Wait, calm down.” Hongbin laughed, raising his hands. “Can we trust this person?”

“Yes, the reason why I’m accepting this so easily is that we know he is extremely trustworthy,” Bang assured. “We’ve known him for a while and he has never let us down.”

“We?”

“Himeji,” Bang clarified. “Golden Duo as well.”

Hongbin was silent for a moment. “And you’re sure he can do the job well?”

Bang nodded and smiled. “Yes, he’s done much more in the past, this will be nothing for him.”

Hongbin, hesitantly, not wanting to accept it, nodded. “Fine, okay, but- I would feel better about this if I could meet him first before bringing him here.”

“Okay, that’s reasonable, I’ll call him and set something up,” Bang said. “Thank you.” He tapped Hongbin on the shoulder twice.

“We’ll talk to everyone now then, I think Leo and Ken just got here,” Hongbin said before Bang could leave.

He stopped, hesitating, looking like a frozen picture. Hongbin sighed deeply.

“How do you expect me to trust you if you’re obviously hiding something from me?” he asked, tone calm even if he was upset.

Bang turned back to face him. “It’s complicated.”

Hongbin raised his brow. “So? It’s not like I can’t handle complicated.”

Bang went silent again, assessing his options and Hongbin, ever so patient, just stood there looking at him.

“We can’t talk here,” Bang said and Hongbin frowned. “Let’s go somewhere.”

Hongbin’s frown deepened. “Are we hiding something from the others?”

Bang nodded. “Yes.”

\--

After Sanghyuk turned off the call he jumped up from his bed, took a quick shower and rushed out the door without giving anything a second thought, glad that he hadn’t spent the night at Wonsik’s.

He gave the address to his taxi driver and as he sat in the back seat, the reality started to sink on him. The boy buried his face on his hands, feeling like an idiot at the same time he felt helpless.

He dreaded the thought that things were starting to fall in place for his vision to happen, for the day he would hold his dying best friend in his arms as he tried to save him.

Getting a sneak peek of the future really did a number on your head, the idea of something tragic happening to someone you love being unchangeable was a scary one. Sanghyuk had tried and tried to figure it out what he could do to save Taekwoon from danger, but as he arrived at the meeting spot, he was reminded that fate will always keep its course.

Sanghyuk’s fate was choosing to be there, in that park bench, and that decision would result in him being in the field to save Taekwoon later. That was their fate.

“Han.” Sanghyuk heard a voice far behind him and his heart sank, not out of fear, but out of dread. It was time.

The boy got up and turned around, seeing two unknown men standing a few meters away from him. He was confused as to who had addressed him, but he quickly made up his mind.

“Bang,” Sanghyuk greeted with a small smile, spotting the soulmate mark he knew the man had on the corner of his eye and using that to identify him. Bang smiled back at him, face somewhat approachable.

Sanghyuk then glanced to the man standing next to him, tall, handsome, looked serious from what he could tell in the far distance.

“Hongbin,” Sanghyuk also greeted, dipping his head to both out of respect. Jaehwan told him a thousand times not to apply common social customs to his underground job to not show weakness, but he couldn’t avoid sometimes. Hongbin, however, dipped his head back at him politely, well mannered. “Was it hard to find me? This park has a lot of benches,” he said, trying to avoid silence.

Bang then chuckled and shook his head. “Zelo told me your hair is blue, it stood out to us quite easily.”

Sanghyuk laughed. “Oh, glad I didn’t dye it back black this week, then,” he said, conversational.

The first awkward silence of the night happened and Sanghyuk was almost pained by it, not knowing what to say. Bang, however, broke it quite naturally, as if he was used to them. “Now that Hongbin got a chance to look at you from afar and reached the conclusion you’re harmless, I think we can go a few steps closer to you so we can sit together and talk,” he tried for the joke.

Hongbin glared at Bang, but at the sight of his mocking smirk he huffed out a laugh, shaking his head and taking the initiative in stepping closer to Sanghyuk, proving the point that he was in fact _not_ scared.

As Hongbin went out of the shadows and into the soft street light, Sanghyuk could really see him. He was very handsome, just like Jaehwan had told him countless times, and he also looked like a snob, just like Taekwoon had told him countless times. There was something intimidating about him, the way he presented himself, the expression on his face, but what made the younger frown was how familiar he looked.

Hongbin definitely didn’t have a common face for Sanghyuk to be mistaking him for somebody else, but still, the impression he’d seen him before was still there. The younger assumed he might have actually seen Hongbin before in a news article, because from what he’d been told by his friends, Hongbin was something of a big deal in the business world.

He didn’t think even for a second of that guy he’d seen on the first time he’d visited Wonsik’s apartment, the one in that festival picture, glass raised, smiling, hugging his soulmate. Hongbin, Wonsik’s brother. Who also happened to be Hongbin, chief of the cocaine business. That would have made that encounter incredibly awkward.

“No offense, it’s just I had never heard of you until 1 hour ago,” Hongbin said casually, sitting on the bench Sanghyuk had been before, crossing his legs and straightening his posture.

Sanghyuk shook his head, saying it was okay, letting Bang also sit as he stood in front of both to make the conversation easier. “I’m still not sure of how much Bang told you,” he said, moving his hands nervously, feeling they were getting closer to the touchy subject.

Bang leaned back on the bench, much more comfortable than Hongbin looked, stretching his arm out on the wood surface. “I told him that you have a history with Zelo and you asked him to join us because you’re out and you need money fast.”

Sanghyuk nodded. “That’s it, basically,” he agreed, even if that had been an extremely short version of it.

“And for some reason, Leo and Ken can’t hear about this,” Hongbin said. Sanghyuk swallowed dry and hesitantly nodded.

“I asked Zelo to talk to you and Bang, not to them,” Sanghyuk said.

Hongbin’s face was flat and unreadable, his voice harsh. A facade, Sanghyuk could tell, but a very effective one, considering he couldn’t see a thing past it, couldn’t feel even the slightest whisper of his soul.

“I don’t like to have secrets with people I work with and I don’t want them to feel like we’ve done anything behind their backs. Leo, Ken and I work together, that’s the least I can do for them,” Hongbin said.

“I understand,” Sanghyuk replied, heart stammering on his chest. “I didn’t mean to drag anyone else into my problems, it just happened, believe me.”

“If you three have any sort of problems, are you sure you should be trying to get in on this?” Hongbin asked and Sanghyuk realized then Bang really hadn’t told him anything, he thought they were enemies.

“We don’t have any sort of problems,” Sanghyuk explained. “The reason why I don’t want them to know is that they would try to stop me- to… protect me,” he forced himself to say, betraying all the promises and agreements he and his friends had made to never reveal to anyone from work how close they really are.

Hongbin arched a brow. “Protect you,” he echoed.

“The three of us-” _Are family._ “Have each other’s back.”

Hongbin’s mind seemed to have shifted directions, coming up with a lot of other questions, but before he could, Bang interrupted. “Han, I don’t think you need to sugar coat anything to Hongbin. After Purgatory, word spread, he’s gonna find out either way,” he said and Sanghyuk was pretty sure he went pale, holding his breath.

“Already?” the younger asked, voice weak. Bang nodded, Hongbin glanced between the two.

“It’s BAP, Han, all the city knew the next day,” Bang said. Sanghyuk’s face twisted.

Sanghyuk figured people would find out, but as with everything else in his life at the moment, it happened too fast. The younger looked at Hongbin and cleared his throat.

“That night L and K went to Purgatory to confront BAP,” Sanghyuk began, making a point to not reveal too many details, he didn’t want Hongbin or Bang to know how much Taekwoon and Jaehwan would actually tell him about what happened in the house, it would make them seem unreliable. “I happened to be there too. It was a coincidence, I wasn’t working, but BAP saw me and assumed I was some sort of back up for you guys. They threatened me and things escalated.”

Hongbin suddenly went back to the talk he had with Jaehwan once they were in the house again. “Oh, Ken mentioned this to me, he said BAP ran into someone he and Leo cared about and some sort of conflict happened… so that was you,” Hongbin said, things clicking in his mind.

Sanghyuk nodded. “It was me,” he confirmed, then looked at Bang, fear back in his eyes. “How much do people know?”

Taekwoon and Jaehwan had been hiding everything from him, but to be fair, he had a chance to ask Junhong and he didn’t, too scared to hear the truth.

Bang hesitated. He didn’t want to be too straight forward, something about Sanghyuk reminded him of Zelo, and a small part of him wanted to protect him because of it. “Well, apparently Nile has been going around saying you’re their pet.” He made sure to make air quotes, Sanghyuk rolled his eyes.

“Of course he has,” Sanghyuk said with a huff.

“And they were also trying to spread the rumor that your job is a coverup for prostitution,” Bang completed hesitantly and Sanghyuk’s mouth fell open.

“What?” he almost screamed.

Bang nodded, looking apologetic. “They said the Golden Duo is that protective over you because you provide them with- favors,” he said, watching the other twist his nose. “That they like to keep you exclusively to them.”

“Oh, Jesus, no, that’s so disgusting,” Sanghyuk blurted out as if seeing any of his friends naked would be the worst thing he could ever experience.

Bang chuckled at his bluntness, the boy was clearly averse to the thought and made no effort to watch himself. Bang was once again reminded of Zelo, those little moments that showed how young and still inexperienced he truly was.

Hongbin just thought it was funny, he didn’t think Leo and Ken were that bad, he wouldn’t mind making either of them a one night stand. He reprehended himself when he saw where his mind had gone to, it was time to go out and hook up with someone again to blow off some steam.

“Don’t worry, some other people that were at Purgatory that night recognized you too and said you were there with friends and what was obviously a boyfriend,” Bang tried to ease his mind, but that just made Sanghyuk’s heart start flipping on his chest again. “I mean, Aka and I saw you too, but people would just assume we’re making stuff up to cover Leo and Ken’s asses, so it ended up working out for the best.”

Of course, other people had seen Sanghyuk from the balcony, why did he think BAP would be the only criminals that night to recognize him? The thought of any of the assassins, drug dealers and rapists he’d encountered on the job seeing Wonsik…

“Han,” Bang called and when Sanghyuk looked at him, his eyes were wide and panicked. “You literally have no enemies. If BAP wants revenge on Leo and Ken they will come for you, not for your friends and your boyfriend,” he pointed out.

Somehow, Sanghyuk found the ‘you’re more likely to die than your boyfriend’ argument comforting and like a kid that had been soothed by a parent, his shoulders slumped and he nodded.

“You’re right,” he said, then shook his head. “So half the city thinks I sell my body for money and the other half knows I’m best friend’s with the Golden Duo.” He snorted, amused by the situation. Might as well laugh of his own misery.

“Well, not that you’re _best friend’s_ with them,” Bang said with a smile and Sanghyuk, once again, realized he hadn’t watched his mouth, pursuing his lips cutely. He wondered how he got that far into the business not being able to lie to save his life and telling people about his connections the second he got just a little bit comfortable. “But Leo told me that you’re out, that’s good for you. You have no enemies but you know Leo and Ken do.”

Sanghyuk nodded. He did know, that’s why he had given up his underground job from night to day, for his safety. That was also what led him to ask Zelo for help, since Ken would never approve of him working in the house and Sanghyuk needed the money to help with the absurd university, and soon, residence fees.

Hongbin had been silent until then, watching Sanghyuk’s every expression, move and word, trying to see what kind of person he was. Han seemed genuine, raw in a way and oddly enough (or not really) he reminded Hongbin of someone too, someone he trusted. And for that reason, he gave the younger the benefit of the doubt.

“Here’s the only thing I don’t get,” Hongbin said and Sanghyuk was suddenly reminded he was there. “The moment you walk in the door Ken and Leo will see you, how big of a difference does it really make to not tell them before?”

“Once I’m there, I’ve seen where the place is and I’ve already talked and settled everything with the two of you, there is nothing they will be able to do to stop me,” Sanghyuk explained. “I know them, if I gave them the heads up they would put themselves in danger to help me get the money I need to maybe make me give up the idea. That’s not an option for me, if anything happened to either of them I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself,” he said and Hongbin nodded, that was enough of a reason.

“And has Bang told you about the job?” Hongbin asked and Sanghyuk nodded. “And you think you can do it.”

“Yes. I don’t have experience with drugs, but I have a lot of experience with labs,” he said, he was a med student, after all.

“How?” Hongbin asked, narrowing his eyes.

Sanghyuk hesitated, no one knew he went to university, _that_ he knew he shouldn’t go around telling people, but he wanted Hongbin to trust him so they could work together.

“In university,” Sanghyuk forced himself to say. “I took pharmacology, chemistry, and histology during my course, I know my way around labs.”

Hongbin accepted the explanation, noticing how uncomfortable the other had become in having to reveal that information about his life. Hongbin knew it was not his place to ask more questions than he needed to, Sanghyuk had answered everything he needed to know and that was enough for him.

“Okay, great, I think we can get to work,” Hongbin said, showing his approval and Sanghyuk let out a breath of relief. “About the payment, since we’re almost in the halfway point, Bang and I agreed in making the offer of 65 million, that’s just a little over half of what we’re paying everyone,” he explained, making everything as clear as possible. “Is that okay with you?”

Sanghyuk was still processing the amount, 65 million won was a lot more than what he’d ever made in a space of 2 to 3 months. Or a year. It was definitely okay.

“Yes, it is,” Sanghyuk said, trying to hide his happiness.

“Same as everyone, we’ll pay half in the first delivery in 20 days, the rest after the second. We’ll explain everything about deadlines on the way, I think we should be heading back if we don’t want to lose the night, Bang said he’s really late,” Hongbin said and Bang nodded in agreement.

“We’re starting today?” Sanghyuk asked.

“Yeah, we literally can’t miss another second, I still need to teach you everything,” Bang said, already getting up. “Is that a problem?”

“No!” Sanghyuk added in a rush. “I just wasn’t prepared for- facing them now,” he said, sounding embarrassed. “K will literally try to murder me,” he said, dramatic, and Hongbin huffed out a laugh.

They started to walk together, Sanghyuk assumed to a car, and there was no much of the heavy awkwardness in the air anymore, just the excess care around each other, the younger scared to say or do something wrong that would get him in trouble. Well, in more trouble.

“Ken is easy to deal with,” Hongbin said in an attempt to ease his mind.

“Have you ever seen him upset?” Sanghyuk asked and Hongbin thought about it for a moment before shaking his head no. “It’s not pretty, he tends to throw things,” he said in all honesty and the other two laughed.

“If it’s any consolation, I don’t think he’ll manage to throw you,” Bang said and it was Sanghyuk’s time to laugh.

He didn’t expect that situation to have been so, if he was being honest, easy. Having Zelo’s recommendation worked wonders in his favor, Hongbin and Bang didn’t even try to deny him, asking a couple of questions before accepting to have him as a part of the group.

That had been easy. What was not at all easy was dealing with the guilt that crushed him as he sat down in the car and Bang started to drive back.

He believed he was doing what was right for himself. He couldn’t afford to rely on anyone, his hard life had taught him not to. He loved Taekwoon and Jaehwan, he would die for either one of them, and lying to them was breaking his heart, but he needed to do that for himself.

Sanghyuk didn’t have much time to feel bad about what he was doing, since Bang and Hongbin used the time of the ride back to fill him in on how the house worked, all the people there, the deadline, the buyers, everything he needed to know. The younger paid full attention to them, even if he already knew most of the information, hoping to distract himself from his own head and looming anxiety.

When they arrived at what seemed a perfectly normal house in an ordinary neighborhood, Sanghyuk was already caught up to all their routine, ready to start. He wasn’t sure, however, that he was ready to face his best friends, see the surprise in their eyes, the betrayal.

Hongbin and Bang led the way, talking casually as they arrived at the doorstep, glancing back to see if Sanghyuk was behind them.

The blue-haired looked terrified, hands shaking and face twisted in a way that looked like he was about to throw up. When he saw the two looking at him, he managed a smile, telling them to go ahead.

Hongbin unlocked the door and opened, going in first, Bang right behind him.

As Sanghyuk took a step forward and entered the living room he took a deep breath, knowing right then he had broken the trust of his family. And they were about to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't kill me  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/beanguni)


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, hm, hi? hi!! long time no see, right? i literally disappeared because i needed to write further into the story to know where it was going lol but !! now i have Stocked Up my chapters so strap yourselves in, hbas is back
> 
> enjoy the chapter

Sanghyuk managed to step forward, but he froze on the spot the minute he was inside the house. He saw what his friend’s called ‘Hongbin’s corner’, a wood table that had documents separated in neat piles, equally spaced between them. He saw the short hallway in front of him, two doors on the left, two on the right and one of the back, where he knew the garden was.

All the stories and comments Taekwoon and Jaehwan would tell him about the house took shape on his mind and reality hit: he was really there, there was no turning back from it anymore.

Sanghyuk was shaking like a leaf, his fingertips feeling like little ice cubes and he wondered how was he supposed to deal with that situation. Should he go to their room, knock on the door and just say “Hi, I’m here!” or should he just stand in the living room like a totem and wait for Jaehwan and Taekwoon to see him? Another possibility would be hiding in the lab with Bang and try to avoid running into them at all for the next months.

The blue-haired didn’t have too much time to think about other options, because out of the room on the right came Hakyeon, looking down at a notebook on his hands, having heard the key on the front door. “Hongbin, remember I told you the chlorine in-” He glanced up.

The older almost tripped on his own feet from the sudden stop he came to, pressing his lips tight and making them small as his eyes grew big, bigger than Sanghyuk had ever seen them. The moment seemed to have stretched forever, Hakyeon staring at his friend as if he was seeing someone who had died and came back to life Pet Sematary style, but it was actually just a few seconds before the notebook the pilot had been holding fell to the ground and startled him back to reality.

Hakyeon jumped a bit from the sound it made and he opened his mouth, closing it the next moment when he realized he didn’t know what to say. Bang and Hongbin did not expect that, and Sanghyuk didn’t think about the fact that not telling Hakyeon and having him have that reaction would expose him. Sanghyuk had made it seem like Hakyeon had been in the mafia for longer than he told the Himeji, long enough to have connections. He should have thought things through.

“Kid,” Hakyeon managed in a whisper, not even attempting to cover up his reaction, he wouldn’t know how to. Sanghyuk’s face twisted when he saw how confused his friend looked.

“I’m sorry,” Sanghyuk choked out, swallowing thickly after.

Drawn out of the room by the loud sound of the hardback notebook hitting the floor and the dead silence that followed, appeared Jaehwan, wanting to check if everything was okay.

If Sanghyuk hadn’t had such a hard life, that would definitely have been one of the worst things he’d ever been through, seeing the shock in his friend face turn to understanding, then to utter disappointment. The mark on Sanghyuk’s arm began to burn up, the action of properly betraying his soulmate for the first time since they’d marked showing its signs on his body.

Jaehwan inhaled sharply to try and control himself, he could see Bang and Hongbin behind Sanghyuk, watching his every move, but- he couldn’t. He couldn’t. Jaehwan marched towards his soulmate, Sanghyuk trying to make himself smaller as he got closer, but to no use.

The younger tried to ignore the betrayal he could feel through the bond, the rage. Jaehwan was leveled with him, looking into his eyes and the younger swallowed dry again.

“I cannot _believe_ you,” the brown-haired said, voice low, rumbling in something like a growl. He was so angry. “I cannot believe this.”

“I don’t know what to say to you,” Sanghyuk said in all honesty.

“Start with who was responsible for this,” Jaehwan said. Sanghyuk raised his brow.

“I am, this was my choice, there is no one to blame but me.”

Jaehwan raised his head, eyes suddenly shooting flames towards Hongbin and Bang, standing behind Sanghyuk. The hitman gritted his teeth, eyes racing, wanting someone to blame.

Jaehwan looked at his soulmate again. “Who?”

Sanghyuk’s anger spiked too, he didn’t like to be treated like a child. He had chosen to be there and so he would take all the blame. “I am not a child and you know it, don’t act like the only way I would do this is under someone else’s influence,” he answered, shoulders going back up, defensive.

Jaehwan opened his mouth to answer, but there was a voice behind him and a hand on his shoulder.

“Enough. Outside,” Taekwoon said firmly and Sanghyuk was aware then of his presence, same as the rest of the Himeji on the end of the hallway, watching the interaction with curious eyes.

Sanghyuk’s eyes found Taekwoon’s and same as the others, there was hurt there, resentment, anger, but on the outside, he was as solid as ever. It took a lot to destabilize Taekwoon, to make him act on impulse because of his emotions, Sanghyuk knew that.

Jaehwan huffed and brushed the other’s hand away, turning around and stomping his way to the backdoor that led to the garden. Hakyeon watched Jaehwan go around him and burst the door open as he stormed out, making him flinch again.

Taekwoon and Sanghyuk exchanged looks, the older letting Sanghyuk go first as he followed. As he went past Hakyeon, the blue-haired reached slightly for his arm, the pilot going pliant under his touch and letting Sanghyuk hold his hand delicately and guide him, or rather drag him in his shocked state, out to the garden.

Taekwoon closed the door behind them as they left the house and went into the brisk air, going to where Jaehwan was, leaning against the farthest fence as he squeezed his temples with his fingers, trying to make himself less angry or at least more controlled.

The moment the others reached him, Jaehwan started to blurt out his rage. “You’re fucking unbelievable, you never lie about a damn thing then all of a sudden you come up with a whole fucking scheme!” His face turned red.

“I had to, you wouldn’t help me otherwise, I know it,” Sanghyuk said, forcing his voice to come out calm, starting to get ticked off at the way he was being treated.

“We would have helped you, H, you know that,” Taekwoon said calmly, still seemingly unaffected. Sanghyuk knew it was not the case, he could feel it. “We would have gotten the money for you.”

“Exactly!” Sanghyuk said with a slightly higher voice, raising his arms. “You would have gone to Jisoo, asked for the job that would get you the most money the fastest so you can use it to keep me away from here.” Taekwoon raised his brow, that was exactly right, he wondered what was so bad about that. Sanghyuk sighed. “I know what it takes to make money fast. The last bullet Jaehwan took? It was because he insisted the money was worth going against the Busan mob.”

Hakyeon looked horrified at the thought of Jaehwan getting shot, swallowing dry again, arms crossed extremely tight on top of his chest, making up for how much his limbs felt like jelly.

“You’re so proud,” Jaehwan accused. “Not wanting to ask for help.”

Sanghyuk looked at him with eyes that showed he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He took a step closer to his soulmate. “This is not pride, Jaehwan,” the blue-haired hissed, staring into the other’s face. “You know me and you know that’s not it. This was my doing, I was the one that fucked up and lost my job, that’s on me, now I’m the one that’s going to fix it.”

“See? I did this, so I’ll fix it,” he mimicked, “pride!”

“After all we’ve been through, I expected better from you than judgment,” Sanghyuk said, hurt by his soulmate’s words.

“Oh, Sanghyuk, I’m so sorry,” Jaehwan said ironically, huffing. “What did you expect? For me to just watch you walk into the house and give you a welcome hug? Pretend like I don’t care? Not giving you an earful?”

“Yes!” Sanghyuk’s voice got louder. “Stop acting like you’re my parents, Jaehwan! You’re not my dad!”

Jaehwan exploded. “But you are the only family I’ve got!” His hands were shaking, eyes starting to fill with tears. “I can’t just watch you put yourself in danger and do nothing, Sanghyuk, you matter to me!”

“Stop screaming each other’s names!” Hakyeon screamed back, glancing to the house, too far for anyone to hear, but a lot of eyes peeking from the windows.

Sanghyuk lowered his voice. “I’m sorry I went behind your back, Jae,” he looked up to the others, “I’m sorry I lied to all of you, it’s killing me, but I knew this was the only way.”

Hakyeon sighed, stepping forward. “Kid,” he called softly, motherly, Sanghyuk felt his eyes watering just from it. “You know what’s the thing that slows you down the most in life, right?” He placed a hand on his shoulder, Sanghyuk shook his head. “Not being able to let go from the past, Hyuk. I know you lost everything you had and everyone you loved, but we are not going anywhere.”

“You can’t know t-” Sanghyuk tried to interrupt, but Hakyeon shushed him with a glare.

“You try to tell yourself that you don’t have anyone because facing the fact that you _do_ it’s harder,” Hakyeon said firmly, raising the boy’s face with his hand when he tried to lower his head. “I know you’re terrified of losing more than you already have in the past, but don’t try to distance yourself from us to avoid hurting in the future. I can’t promise you we won’t die, the same way you can’t make us this promise, but we _can_ protect each other, Hyuk.”

Sanghyuk remained silent and Hakyeon lowered his hand, letting the younger stare at the ground.

“We are family, Hyuk,” Taekwoon said, he didn’t dare to look up at his friend. “Come to us first. If you pull this kind of stuff behind our back something really bad might happen.”

“Worse than this?” Jaehwan asked, an ironic laugh erupting after. “Worse than he having to work with the Himeji, putting himself under BAP’s fire?”

Taekwoon sighed and looked at his friend. To see someone so out of control just reminded him how to not act, helped him to pull himself together. “Jae, at least we are here to keep an eye on him, same as Yeon, we won’t let him off our sights.”

“Like that makes this better,” Jaehwan murmured, clearly upset.

Sanghyuk knew him enough to know why he was acting that way. “I’m sorry I made you worry about me, I promise I’ll be careful.” Jaehwan just stared at the ground. _Who’s the child now_ , Sanghyuk thought. “I’ll have my armed bodyguard taking care of me,” he then joked, to which his soulmate snorted in response.

“I’m really mad at you, Hyuk.” Jaehwan raised his eyes to his soulmate’s. “Really mad.”

Sanghyuk nodded. “I know.”

“Good,” Jaehwan said, then took a deep breath. “Let’s go back inside.”

The brown-haired turned his back and started to walk toward the house as soon as he finished speaking, not bothering to wait for an answer.

“He’s difficult,” Hakyeon noted.

Sanghyuk chuckled, emotionlessly. “He is,” he made a brief pause, “thank you for not being mad at me,” he told the soulmates.

“We’re mad, kid,” Hakyeon and Taekwoon said in perfect unison, sharing the same thought. “You really should have spoken to us first, H,” Taekwoon added with a sigh, deeply disappointed.

“I know, I- regret it already,” Sanghyuk admitted. “Talk to him later, please- if you can.”

The soulmates nodded and Taekwoon patted Sanghyuk on the back, telling him to lead the way inside. “Come on,” he said, smiling faintly at his friend.

It was a good thing that Sanghyuk had to split from the rest of them to be with Bang, because they weren’t exactly in the mood to stay around each other.

The silence stretched for a while in the production room, but a curious YJ could only hold himself for so long.

“So, gorgeous, you’re actually a good actor,” YJ said, looking at him. Hakyeon looked up from his notes then back down. He continued, “I didn’t suspect you were such good pals of Ken and Leo.”

Hakyeon lifted his eyes again so he could glare at the man, getting a faint chuckle in return.

“I’m just saying,” the man added, giving a big sigh. “Wonder how many secrets do you know.”

“Shush, I’m trying to concentrate,” Hakyeon dismissed, waving his hand in his direction.

“Don’t be like that, love.” YJ walked to where the other was standing, still ignored by the other two. “I’m just trying to get to know you.”

When he got no reply he stepped closer to Hakyeon. Jaehwan, who was closest to them, glanced up, proving he was, in fact, paying attention. YJ smiled and dared to step closer, making the look on Jaehwan’s eyes turn into a glare, the pilot still too focused on his notes to give YJ any attention.

He was raising his arm up to throw around Hakyeon’s shoulder when two faint knocks beside him stopped him. “Everything okay around here?” Hongbin asked, letting himself into the room.

“There he is!” YJ greeted and Hongbin was startled by it. “Hongbin, didn’t know you had it in you, I was almost deceived by your pretty face.”

Hongbin raised a single, judging, ironic brow. “What is this about, now?” he addressed the others. Taekwoon just looked at him and turned his eyes, like he was saying he didn’t know or cared about what YJ was annoying them with that time.

YJ smiled, widely. “I’m talking about the barefaced lying, of course! I mean, bringing someone in behind the Golden Duo’s backs knowing they had a connection? Very good,” he said and applauded.

When Hongbin saw the ironic smile on his lips he understood. On the way to the meeting spot earlier that night, Bang had mentioned that all the Himeji were already aware of the fact that Han was close to Ken and Leo. YJ knew about what they were going to do, he was just pretending not to so he could say that and start something up.

In YJ’s defense, he was bored.

“You should take care of your own business, YJ,” Hongbin said, serious. He could see from the corner of his eyes that Ken was glaring at him.

Jaehwan was looking for someone to blame for that mess, wanting to target his anger at someone, and YJ had just given him a perfect victim.

“I am!” YJ exclaimed. “You are the one interfering with personal business here.” He shrugged. “Ken agrees,” he pointed out, not letting the way the hitman was looking at Hongbin slide.

Hongbin reluctantly looked at Jaehwan. “I heard about this today,” he told the brown-haired, wanting to maybe explain himself.

“I think you’re lying,” Jaehwan murmured back, narrowing his eyes.

To Hongbin, Ken was always smiley and nice, he made the younger comfortable and even shared jokes from time to time. Ken and Hongbin had an easy relationship, but at that second, Jaehwan was staring a hole into the younger’s head, eyes dangerous. His temperament wasn’t the easiest to deal with, he lost his patience more often than not, especially when people went to his soft spots. Well, Sanghyuk was his soft spot and he was in danger now, so Jaehwan was in desperate need to take out his frustration on someone.

Hongbin frowned. “I’m not lying, Ken. Bang told me he was doing a favor to Zelo by letting Han join us. Bang told me today, I met Han today, and now he’s here,” he explained, undoubtedly affected by Jaehwan being mad at him. Hongbin liked Ken, he didn’t want to lose that trust the brown-haired put in him.

“Sounds like bullshit to me,” YJ tried to wind Jaehwan up. If a glare was what Jaehwan was sending Hongbin, the way Hongbin looked at YJ then was as if he wanted to punch him in the face.

As Hongbin looked at YJ he realized how much he disliked him, his smug face, the way he was trying to create conflict for his own entertainment. Hongbin really disliked him. And that led to his head getting hotter than it should.

“Know limits, Youngjae, shut up,” Hongbin hissed. When he finished speaking, he didn’t think much of what he’d said, but when the other’s expression shifted from a smug smile to a surprised stare he was taken aback.

“How do you know my name, Hongbin?” YJ asked and Hongbin’s mind blanked.

_Shit_. When Wonsik would read Jongup’s text he would always call everyone by their real names. He knew Bang was Yongguk, Aka was Daehyun, he knew YJ was Youngjae, but he would never call them by that, because after all, how could Hongbin explain the fact he knew everyone’s names?

Taekwoon tilted his head curiously. He had made it clear to Hongbin he suspected him to have an outside source that had given him the information on BAP, and that just strengthened his theory. Hongbin definitely had a person to tell him all about that, which he thought to be risky and a very stupid move, considering that everything should be kept secret in the house.

“I heard Jongup talking about you to Himchan and calling you Youngjae,” Hongbin answered after a moment, hands sweating and voice almost cracking. Almost.

There was a beat of silence and Hongbin thought he was screwed then, that YJ would find out he was being helped by someone from the outside, that he would find Wonsik.

YJ sighed loudly and turned his eyes. “Fuck, Jongup,” he said, forgetting all about he was supposed to be throwing Ken and Hongbin against each other and stomping out of the room to confront his friend.

A painfully awkward silence stretched in the room after that, Hakyeon having to do something about it. “I need you to help me get something outside,” Hakyeon told Jaehwan and Taekwoon, wanting to put an end to that situation, leave.

Jaehwan’s eyes softened when he looked at Hakyeon, understanding what he was doing. Hakyeon went around Hongbin and left the room first, Jaehwan behind him, sending Hongbin a judging look. The younger felt all the progress he’d made in keeping his relationship with at least some people in the house good going down the drain.

“Nice save.” Taekwoon’s voice brought Hongbin back from his thoughts. “But I told you, be more careful, people will catch up.”

Hongbin opened his mouth but quickly closed it, letting Leo leave without an answer.

\--

It had been three days since Sanghyuk had joined them and to say Hongbin was thrilled was an understatement. Not that he had immediately bonded and became Sanghyuk’s best friend, Hongbin remained far and professional with him like he did the others.

What made him instantly like Han was the fact that ever since he had arrived, the things that were falling off track immediately fixed themselves. He only needed about an hour to catch up to how things worked with Bang and since then he had been working silently, uncomplaining for hours on end.

The fact that he needed to stay till later meant Jaehwan, Taekwoon and Hakyeon were also staying extra hours to keep an eye on him and leave together, Hongbin assumed to take him home. All of that was making everything move faster and they were bound to fall back on schedule some time in the next week.

If Hongbin believed in any of that spiritual nonsense, he would think of Han as a lucky charm.

Hongbin was learning Han was not a bad person either, quite the contrary, everyone talked to him with a different tone, and he would always respond with a kind and genuine smile. He had learned, or overheard, that Han was experienced in the field, a doctor of sorts, had saved Leo’s, Ken’s and Zelo’s lives before, which impressed him a lot.

Hongbin observed Sanghyuk from a distance and would always get hit with the impression that he knew the younger, his energy was- familiar, warming, pleasant. But he quickly reminded himself he didn’t believe that spiritual nonsense and that he got the idea that he knew Han from somewhere because his hair was blue and he was a doctor, exactly like his brother’s soulmate.

Wonsik panicked when he first learned Hongbin had basically brought an entirely new person to the house without consulting him, but the black-haired distracted him with the coincidence so they could a make a joke out of it and move on. Wonsik hated the joke, he didn’t want to even imagine Sanghyuk in that situation.

Hongbin noticed Han was a magnet of sorts too, people tended to gravitate towards him, be comfortable in his presence. He took from the way he and Zelo talked to each other that they were friends, but the way the Golden Duo and N treated him- it seemed more. It was extreme care, especially from Ken, who was always checking on him. Hongbin didn’t know their normal dynamic, but he could tell they were upset at each other and even so Ken worried about him, asked if he was okay or needed anything. They shared a strong bond, the black-haired had to admit even not believing the spiritual nonsense.

Hongbin opened the door to check how were Bang and Han doing and same as before they were both quiet and concentrated on their tasks. They matched, those two, stuck to saying only the necessary and focused on doing what they had to.

Hongbin went to the first room and as usual, Himchan and Aka were getting their hands dirty and Jongup and Zelo were sitting on the floor bossing them around, but seeing as everything was on track, there was no reason for Hongbin to complain. When he went to the second room, Hongbin noticed there were two people missing.

“Where are Leo and N?” Hongbin asked.

“They lost on rock paper scissors so they went on the coffee run,” Ken said dully, not raising his eyes from his phone.

After Sanghyuk got there, a few things came to light. One of those things was how wrong everyone was about N’s relationship with the Golden Duo, they were actually much closer than what they were letting on.

Hongbin came back to the living room and sat on the table and texted Wonsik to see if there were any news. Wonsik always kept himself brief in his answers and that time was no exception, saying everything was fine. He put his phone down and waited around for something to do, fully aware of how tired he was.

He kept thinking about his speech for the Milky Way gala, training the words into his brain as he closed his eyes and tried to picture himself giving it. The stage had always looked so big to him, ever since he was a little kid. Seeing his mom and dad up there was intimidating, looked unreachable, but yet there he was, having to imagine himself in front of the microphone all alone.

Hongbin was scared, but whenever he began to worry about it too much he reminded himself that three days prior to that he was sending kilos of cocaine into Japan. He should worry about that too.

The sound of keys jostling on the door made Hongbin open his eyes and he realized he had dozed off, head resting on the wall behind him. He blinked himself into focus as he watched N greet him and brush a hand on his shoulder, going into the kitchen to give Han a coffee. It seemed the Jisoo’s-people coffee tradition was expanding.

Leo, however, didn’t follow his soulmate, standing in the middle of the living room looking at Hongbin.

Hongbin had only glanced up once, but he noticed he was being stared at. Taekwoon looked uncomfortable, standing awkwardly holding not one but two cups of coffee. The younger felt bad for his stomach.

“Lost something?” Hongbin asked ironically, pretending he was looking around him, eyes searching the ground, and the witty response came up to the tip of Taekwoon’s tongue, but he bit it back.

“I need to talk to you,” Taekwoon said, taking a step forward.

“Oh.” Hongbin realized it was about business, so his eyes changed. “Welcome to my office then,” he joked, motioning to the chair across from where he was sitting.

Taekwoon huffed out a laugh, placing his steaming coffees on the table and going to the chair. Hongbin was confused when the hitman didn’t sit on it, but dragged it across to his side, straddling it and resting his hands comfortably on what should be the back of the chair.  
  
Now, _that_ was a different look. Hongbin felt the older was staring right into his soul.

“What are you doing?” Hongbin asked, voice fainter than he would have liked.

Taekwoon raised a brow. He didn’t think he was doing anything, just sitting. Regardless, he cleared his throat and spoke with a soft, low voice, “We need to talk about your source.”

Hongbin’s heart skipped a beat and he prepared to snap back with a rude response before Taekwoon raised a hand.

“Don’t,” Taekwoon interrupted, fully aware of what he was about to do. “Look, no one noticed but me, I didn’t even tell Ken. I just want to know to make sure we are protected, that we can trust this person, I have no interest and meeting them or even knowing their name.”

Hongbin’s heart was beating so fast it was like it would jump out of his chest, Taekwoon was almost whispering and he looked sincere. Oddly sincere. Like he wasn’t lying.

“Leo, there isn’t anyone helping me-” he began but Taekwoon sighed deeply, leaning further onto the back of the chair so he would be closer to Hongbin and the younger shut himself.

“I don’t want to cause trouble for you, I won’t even tell anyone, I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

Hongbin’s eyes widened. “You what?”

Taekwoon raised a brow. “I want to make sure we’re safe,” he repeated what he thought he’d said.

“O-Oh,” Hongbin shuttered and Taekwoon’s brow went up even further when he saw the rosy tint on the other’s cheek. “You should just trust my word, Leo,” he said after clearing his throat.

Taekwoon sighed. “Hongbin, please,” he said patiently, unusually so. Why was he being so nice? Hongbin was confused, Leo’s usually intense cat eyes were soft, not intimidating, not threatening.

“I-” Hongbin looked deep into Taekwoon’s eyes and it was like his mind went into shut down, throat feeling tight, the words just escaping his lips in a whisper. “They are someone I trust,” he said and his own stomach twisted.

Hongbin couldn’t believe after all that time of denying and denying he had finally admitted he had someone behind him helping him, that he had Wonsik. Most shocking to himself even was the fact he had admitted that to _Leo,_ of all people.

“Okay. Do they have any ties with BAP?” he asked with a low voice, focused, not for a second trying to rub off the fact that he had been right all along like Hongbin had expected.

Hongbin shook his head. “No, not at all.”

Taekwoon raised his brow. “How did they find out so much, then? Are they from North Korea? Those people know everything.”

“No, they just- have ways.”

Taekwoon looked amused. “I mean, apparently you know Himeji’s names too, what kind of ways do they have?” he asked, oddly conversational.

Something about that situation was extremely weird to Hongbin, he and Leo were having a whisper conversation, sharing secrets in the middle of the house. Even stranger than that was how Leo had approached him, not poking his nerve but trying to get along, coaching him to speak by reassuring him, saying Hongbin could trust him, it made him suspicious.

Hongbin’s heart was about ready to jump out of his chest and do a lap around the world, nervous to be letting someone in, and most of all Leo, the one he despised the most. He swallowed thickly before he answered, “You know how Hana does it?”

Taekwoon frowned, taking the information in, then his eyes widened. “Oh,” he said, realization hitting. “Oh.” He dragged the vowel, lips parted and Hongbin wanted to laugh. “That was the last thing I expected,” he admitted.

Hongbin chuckled, genuine. “That’s all they do, they don’t go in the streets or anything,” he said, scrunching his nose at the thought.

“And there is no chance they’ll spill anything from us?”

“None. This is someone I trust with my life,” Hongbin said firmly, wanting Leo to see how serious he was, not thinking about his next words before he spoke them, “I’ve trusted them all my life.”

Hongbin clamped his own lips shut, but it was too late, he’d said it. He prayed Leo would assume it was someone from his company, for him to not entertain the idea of a family member.

Taekwoon, even when catching every single detail, just nodded in understanding. He’d finally talked to Hongbin about what he had been wanting to and it didn’t result in any fighting. Hongbin had- listened, which was in itself surprising.

“Alright.” Taekwoon gave him a faint smile and got up from the chair, putting it back in its rightful place. Before he could leave, Hongbin got up too, standing in front of him.

“I know after I lied to you about Han it’s a lot for me to ask for a favor,” Hongbin said, voice steady even if he was nervous. Taekwoon stood and listened, giving him his undivided attention, which was quite overwhelming to Hongbin, as usual. “But could you please keep this between the two of us? I don’t want anyone to look for- him,” he said under his breath.

Taekwoon stared for a few seconds before smiling. He reached for one of the cups of coffee that were resting on the table, lifting it in front of Hongbin’s eyes. The younger looked between the cup and Taekwoon’s face, confused.

The hitman laughed, sound melodic and unusual to Hongbin’s ears. “I bought it so I could pour it over your expensive shoes if you threw a fit. “Hongbin frowned. “I’m Joking, rich boy. It was a peace offering regardless.”

Hongbin stared at the cup with a piercing intensity, eyes scanning Leo’s thin fingers delicately wrapped around the curve of it like he couldn’t believe it was real. Leo had bought him _coffee_. As a _peace offering._

The younger heard that unusual melodic sound again and suddenly the cup was moving, moving, then resting at the table again.

“I know it’s hard, you can just take it at your own time,” Taekwoon said ironically, but it lacked the usual bite. “And… don’t worry, you have my word, I won’t tell anyone.”

Hongbin narrowed his eyes at him regardless and Taekwoon turned around, a smug smile on his lips as he left.

“Fuck,” Taekwoon heard the other hiss as he was almost out of the living room. He looked back and saw Hongbin blowing on his hand as if he had just juggled brazing coal. Hongbin noticed Leo looking at him, suddenly getting defensive. “It’s so hot, how did you manage to hold it? Shit,” he whispered. Taekwoon laughed louder at that, cat eyes turning into crescents. “Don’t laugh, I’m serious! Are your hands covered in fur or something?”

Leo folded his arms on his chest, laugh still present in his words, “actually, no, thankfully. Imagine what it would be like to live in fear of being turned into one of your coats.”

Hongbin puffed. “Rude of you to assume I own any real fur, Leo, I have a conscience,” he said, blowing on his hand once again, pouting his lips while at it.

Taekwoon turned his eyes. “You’re more of a drama queen than Ken, didn’t think that was possible.” He walked to Hongbin again, reaching his hand and placing it around the cup to check. He retrieved his hand immediately, waving it around.

“See! It’s hot.” Hongbin started to laugh at the face the other made, obviously in pain.

“It didn’t seem that hot,” Taekwoon murmured, confused at how suddenly he couldn’t touch the coffee cup when he had held it just fine seconds before.

Hongbin glanced at the table at noticed the cupboard sleeve was resting next to the cup, not on it. It had probably slipped from it, as weird as that sounds.

“Serves you right for making fun of me,” Hongbin said proudly, happy to have come out on top.

Taekwoon shook his head before he turned away again.

“Thank you.” The older heard the whisper just as he was leaving the room again and when he glanced at Hongbin.

Taekwoon had understood what he meant, but he chuckled. “It’s just coffee.”

Hongbin smiled and nodded, watching Leo leave. “Yeah, just coffee,” he whispered to himself.

\--

Sanghyuk sat up in his bed and immediately put his hands on his neck, gasping for air. His eyes were wide and his heart was racing, but when he realized he had woken up, that he wasn’t actually dying, he relaxed. The relief didn’t last for long, because even if he wasn’t the one dying, Taekwoon would be.

Sanghyuk still had hope of it not being Taekwoon, clinging to the fact that his essence felt different in the vision, but he knew it was just naive optimism, it had to be.

He was in the break room of the hospital, trying to get some rest after being on call for almost 10 hours, but the moment he closed his eyes, the vision came. He turned off the alarm with his shaky hand and rested his back on the wall behind him, bringing his knees close to his chest.

As he tried to calm his breathing, he kept his eyes wide open, not wanting to trigger any of the vision to return. He looked small, folding on himself alone in that cold dull white room, nothing on it except the bed he was lying in and the desk on the other side. It was dead silent there, but Sanghyuk knew that wasn’t why he felt so lonely.

His friends were acting weird around him, still hurt by what he’d done, and that led to him being alone most of the time, wanting to give them the space they needed.

Sanghyuk was also extremely tired, getting the day 7h to 7h shifts at the hospital three times a week so he would have the evening free to go to the house. He wouldn’t even rest when he was home, having to sit on his computer and work on his paper, the due date getting closer and closer. He was used to working and studying and not getting enough sleep between those things, but that didn’t make it any easier.

When he would get a vision like that he would text Hakyeon or Jaehwan and they would comfort him, they would comfort each other, but all he could do then was swallow back his sadness as he got up.

He reached for his phone and the key to his break room, the reason why he had put an alarm was so that he could eat something before he had to go cover for one of his colleagues.

Sanghyuk managed a smile when he saw Wonsik had texted him, telling him to have a nice nap, then a nice dinner. The younger would text him whenever he could since his busy schedule had made it impossible for them to see each other frequently, telling Wonsik what he was doing even if it was the small routine things, trying to keep the conversation going.

As Sanghyuk went down the stairs to go to the café in the first floor of the hospital he texted Wonsik back, telling him he was about to feast on some crappy sandwich and overly sugary juice before he went back on call, a smile crawling up his lips just from talking to him. At least he still had that, his soulmate was still there to provide the small bursts of happiness he needed to survive his otherwise lonely day.

Sanghyuk arrived at the café and got in line, not glancing around much, as he saw there were many tables available. He was scrolling through his phone mindlessly when he felt a hand snake around his waist.

He wasn’t too startled, he knew a lot of people in the hospital, but when he saw the familiar smile his tired face lit up.

“Sik!” Sanghyuk almost squealed, throwing his arms around the older’s neck, pushing them both off the line.

Wonsik laughed, hugging him back. “Hi.”

Sanghyuk pulled back. “What are you doing here?” he asked, beaming, happiness filling him all at once.

Wonsik chuckled. “Came to see my doctor,” he joked. “You told me how long your nap was going to be so I just came here and waited for you.”

Of course, Wonsik and his romantic surprises. He had probably waited a long time there so just he could spend half an hour with Sanghyuk, noticing the younger was down about something the last few days, wanting to cheer him up.

Sanghyuk put a hand on Wonsik’s cheek and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. The silver-haired’s face warmed.

“Can you do this here?” Wonsik asked, embarrassed.

Sanghyuk chuckled and kissed him again, attracting eyes. “Not really, but I don’t care.”

Wonsik huffed out a laugh and pulled away before Sanghyuk would kiss him again and put himself in trouble.

“So, I know how much you love this place’s crappy sandwiches,” Wonsin began, Sanghyuk laughed, “but I brought you something.”

Sanghyuk raised his eyebrow, but Wonsik motioned him to a table where he could see some containers, they were black and had flowers around them, didn’t look like take-out.

“You cooked?” Sanghyuk asked, shocked beyond belief, knowing how Wonsik was a tragedy in the kitchen to do anything more complex than scrambled eggs.

“No, mon chéri, dad did.”

Sanghyuk was taken aback by that. “You asked your dad to cook for me? You shouldn’t have given him the trouble, my love,” he said, but took Wonsik’s hand and caressed it as a thank you for the gesture.

Wonsik pulled his soulmate to sit closer to him. “It’s no trouble, Hyuk, and besides, he was the one that asked me to. I told him you’ve been running around a lot lately, so he sent this as take care gift, of sorts,” he explained. “He got the recipe from grandma, though, she insisted he used one of hers, she asks about you a lot.”

“Oh,” Sanghyuk said, looking at the dark boxes, stacked on top of each other neatly. He didn’t expect Wonsik’s father to bother about him, they hadn’t even met yet, he didn’t have to be that kind. “That’s- so nice of them,” he said fondly, warm feeling swelling on his chest.

Wonsik chuckled. “You know, they’ve been dying to meet you.”

Sanghyuk smiled and kissed Wonsik’s cheek. “Tell your dad and your grandma I was very thankful and that I also want to meet them- and the rest of your family.”

Wonsik nodded, saying he would, and began to explain to his soulmate what was inside the boxes, a real feast. Sanghyuk tried to focus, but he was still too touched by the act. He had never truly had grandparents, all died when he was too young to remember, so he wasn’t really used to those small acts of caring and kindness from anyone other than his friends. It felt nice, though, to have someone worry about your well being, sending you a present, Sanghyuk kept smiling as he thought about it.

Sanghyuk cozied up next to Wonsik and began to eat, letting him go on about his day. The food was delicious, tasted exactly like his favorite restaurant, a family-owned small place downtown.

When Sanghyuk was done he leaned his head on Wonsik’s shoulder, letting the older wrap their fingers together as he continued his monologue. The younger could remember when Wonsik was so shy he couldn’t even look at him properly and yet there he was, giving him a speech, comfortable, he couldn’t even put into words how happy that made him.

“This is so good, did your dad do this on his own?” Sanghyuk asked after he finished, full.

Wonsik nodded. “My grandma wanted to taste it before he sent it to you, so they kind of cooked together there, but he could have had cooked everything on his own, my dad is an amazing cook,” he said proudly.

“They seem to have an interesting relationship.”

“Oh, it’s a funny one. Dad is not actually her son, you know that,” Wonsik said and Sanghyuk nodded, he knew when he talked about his ‘grandparents’ it was Hongbin’s grandparents. “He is a sort of companion to my grandparents, him working for them is like a bonus. I mean, it’s not usual for your butler’s son to have a room in your house, they definitely have a different relationship.”

“You have a room in their house?” S

Wonsik nodded. “It’s bigger than Hongbin’s actually, we played rock paper scissors and he lost.” He chuckled.

Sanghyuk laughed and kissed his cheek again. “Proud of you.”

“Yeah, my family is- different. Even though I don’t have my mom and that can suck sometimes, I wouldn’t change her leaving us like she did.”

“Really?” Sanghyuk asked, genuinely surprised.

Wonsik shook his head. “If she hadn’t left, my dad wouldn’t have started working for my grandparents, I wouldn’t have them in my life, I wouldn’t have Hongbin,” he explained. “My family is- weird, but-”

Sanghyuk interrupted him. “I don’t think it’s weird. I think it’s special, you chose your family like I chose mine.”

Wonsik opened a big smile. “I’m dating a guru,” he said, no teasing in his tone.

Sanghyuk laughed loudly, wrapping an arm around his soulmate. “I should drop medicine and go into the spiritual guidance field.”

Wonsik shrugged. “I would support it as long as you still take care of my paper cuts so I don’t have to see blood.”

Sanghyuk giggled and cozied up against Wonsik. “Thank you for coming to see me,” he whispered, giving a kiss on his shoulder. “I missed you like crazy.”

Wonsik smiled, placing a kiss on the top of his head. “I’ve missed you too. I know you’ve been busier than usual, I wish we had more time to spend together.”

Sanghyuk felt guilt tugging at his chest, he’s been busier than usual because of his new side job, all his evenings were taken. He had to lie to Wonsik and say his shifts at the hospital were until late at night now so he wouldn’t get suspicious. Wonsik believed him, always believed him.

“What do you say we go on a date this weekend?” Sanghyuk asked, lifting his head from his boyfriend’s shoulder. “You surprise me so much, let me come up with something nice for us to do together.”

Wonsik beamed. “Okay, it’s a date.”

\--

“Hey,” Wonsik greeted with a big smile, but before he could say anything else he was attacked with kisses, on his cheek, chin, nose, mouth.

The silver-haired began to laugh, wrapping his arms around Sanghyuk’s neck and starting to pepper kisses back on his mouth too, both ending up smiling.

“You look- so- pretty,” Sanghyuk said between small pecks and Wonsik chuckled, pressing a longer kiss.

“Thank you, mon chéri,” Wonsik said, hugging him after. It hadn’t been longer than a few days since they last saw each other, but as usual, it felt like longer, they missed one another.

Wonsik loosened his arms so he could look at what Sanghyuk was wearing too. As usual, he had light wash jeans on, a tucked in black t-shirt and a simple yellow jacket. Casual, youthful, even if it was date night.

“You look nice too,” Wonsik said. “So, where are we going?”

“There is a reason why I haven’t told you yet,” Sanghyuk said, Wonsik tipped his head in question. “It will make you nervous. Let’s just go.”

Wonsik frowned, but Sanghyuk just wrapped their hands together and dragged his soulmate along.

Sanghyuk started to guide them out of the park and Wonsik was confused. “We’re not staying here?” The younger shook his head no. “Why would ask me to meet me at the park if we’re not staying at the park?” Wonsik laughed.

Sanghyuk huffed. “You ask too many questions, sir, just follow me.”

The younger tugged Wonsik’s arm again and he just followed, the soulmates eventually ending up with their arms on each other’s waists as they walked around the neighborhood. Wonsik could have asked more questions of what was Sanghyuk doing or where was he taking them, but one of the things he enjoyed most was having a walk with his soulmate, so he just let him.

After ten minutes of walking the couple started to go into a part of the neighborhood that was mainly made of houses, big walls blocking the view to most of them, which Wonsik used to consider nonsense in a country as safe as Korea, but as he delved into the criminal world he found to be very justifiable. Danger could be anywhere.

The sun wasn’t in the sky anymore, the chill of the spring afternoon making them gravitate towards each other even more.

“So our plan for the night is to walk around?” Wonsik asked, a laugh in his words.

Sanghyuk turned his eyes. “It’s not, we’re almost there.”

“There,” Wonsik echoed and Sanghyuk nodded, not saying anything else. “Why the suspense?”

“Because if I had told you where we’re going you would have gotten really nervous unnecessarily,” Sanghyuk said and as if he had timed the moment perfectly, he stopped in front of a house, wall bigger than most around it.

Wonsik glanced to the thick iron gate and back at Sanghyuk’s face. “So your plan for us tonight is to break into this house? It looks secure, I don’t think we’ll make it,” he joked.

Sanghyuk huffed out a laugh and punched a code in a keypad Wonsik hadn’t notice till then. As soon as he finished, the gate began to slide open.

Wonsik stepped away from it like a scared cat. “Hyuk, oh my god, we can’t rob a house! How did you figure the code out?”

Sanghyuk burst into laughter. “You’re so cute. This is Jaehwan’s house, Sik, we’re not breaking in.”

Wonsik seemed to have relaxed with the news, but tensed up again right after. “Jaehwan’s house? What are we doing here?”

Sanghyuk took his soulmate’s hand and began to drag him across the garden, Wonsik resisting like a leashed dog not wanting to leave a park. The younger turned to him, laughing.

“Remember I said I was moving here for a while?”

“Yeah, because the residency program doesn’t pay that well and you need to save up,” Wonsik said and nodded.

“Exactly, you’re helping us with the unpacking. They brought my boxes earlier today.”

Wonsik laughed. “I’m on moving duty?”

Sanghyuk wrapped his arms around the other’s neck and placed a kiss on his lips. “Well, I’ve already sorted through mostly everything, so you’ll help me with the rest, then we can just drink, eat and talk with the guys the rest of the night. Saturday is usually game night for us.”

Wonsik was opening his mouth to ask who were the guys when he heard an unknown voice behind him. “Wonsik!” the man screamed and when he turned around there was someone practically sprinting through the garden towards him.

Hakyeon was wearing loose fabric pants that resembled a skirt as he moved and he had a bottle of soju in his hand, at least that was all Wonsik was able to observe before the older was right in front of him.

“He’s handsome!” Hakyeon said excitedly, looking at Sanghyuk. The youngest chuckled and nodded in agreement. “I’ve heard so much about you, I’ve been dying to meet you! Hi, I’m Hakyeon.”

Suddenly everything clicked on his mind. “Oh! Of course, Hakyeon,” he said like everything just made sense in his head, like it couldn’t be anyone else. Sanghyuk snorted. “Nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you too,” he completed, getting a little embarrassed about his reaction. Hakyeon didn’t seem to mind it in the slightest, opening a big smile.

“How are Jae and Taek doing on the shelf?” Sanghyuk asked.

“Jae has given up on it and it’s now playing video games, Woonie is doing it by himself.”

“Of course,” Sanghyuk said, turning his eyes. “I brought a smart person, so he’ll be able to help.”

Wonsik was led into the house hesitantly, his shy nature making him remain quiet as Sanghyuk started to show him around the place. It was a beautiful house, very well decorated, bright colors everywhere. Mess everywhere too, that made Wonsik feel comfortable.

Sanghyuk and Hakyeon showed him around the living room, the kitchen and the guest room before they made it to the second floor. There was noise he could hear immediately, two people arguing in the room on their left.

“You’re not doing anything!” Jaehwan said loudly.

“Well, neither are you,” Taekwoon replied, laughing after. “If that hits me, Lee Jaehwan, you’re dead.”

Sanghyuk peeked into the room to see Taekwoon holding a drink as he looked at the various parts of a dismantled shelf on the floor in front of him, apparently staring at it and hoping it would assemble itself. Weirdly enough, there were a bunch of Sanghyuk’s items of clothing around him too.

“My god, is it that hard?” Sanghyuk asked, laughing.

Taekwoon looked up at him, a big frown on his face. “Yes and Jaehwan throwing your shirts at me is not helping.”

“Excuse me!” Jaehwan objected. “I’ve also thrown pants and scarves.”

Sanghyuk turned his eyes, typical.

“Where is Wonsik? Didn’t you go out to find him?” Taekwoon asked.

The silver-haired raised his hand and waved it awkwardly, attracting attention to himself, standing quietly at the door.

“Peaches!” Jaehwan called, sitting up to open a big smile to Wonsik.

“Oh, gosh, you’re still going with that?” Sanghyuk asked, remembering that had been the nickname Jaehwan had given Wonsik the night everything happened at Purgatory.

“The red was faded when we met, it looked pink! Peaches is a nice nickname. I’ve been calling him that ever since that night and he doesn’t mind it, Hyuk,” Jaehwan said, full of himself. Sanghyuk turned to Wonsik and he chuckled.

“He has my number,” Wonsik explained, Jaehwan had texted him a couple of times since.

“Oh, does he?” Sanghyuk asked, genuinely surprised, turning to his platonic soulmate.

“You’re gonna have to share Peaches with us, Blue, get used to it,” Jaehwan said, going to help Taekwoon again.

Sanghyuk couldn’t help but smile at that, Jaehwan hadn’t told him he’d been in touch with Wonsik, but that was a good sign, meant he wanted to get closer. He hoped it also meant the time they would act normal around each other again was coming.

“Peaches, you’re smart, come help us,” Jaehwan called Wonsik cutely, asking for help on the assembling the shelf.

It was odd how endeared by Jaehwan Wonsik was, but then again, the hitman had that effect on people. Well, the people who weren’t scared out of their wits of him.

Wonsik sat between Taekwoon and Jaehwan on the floor, shyly asking for the instructions the older was holding, trying to understand why the partners were having so much trouble with it.

Sanghyuk felt an arm go around his waist and then Hakyeon was attached to his side, looking at the others with fond eyes. The younger smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder, allowing the pilot to come closer.

Sanghyuk wasn’t too particular on physical affection with his friends, but Hakyeon had proven to be an exception, he actually liked to have the older around him, finding his warm energy comforting.

“How are you?” Hakyeon asked in a murmur.

“Good, actually, very good,” Sanghyuk answered with a smile, watching Wonsik blush at something flirty Jaehwan had said that made even Taekwoon snort.

“Taking the moving well, then?”

“Well, having you all here together is taking my mind off of it,” he said, hesitant. “Besides, after all I did with lying to you and going behind your back thing I’ve been working on opening myself up more, trying not to be afraid of everything.”

Hakyeon smiled. “Bringing him here was a part of it, I bet.”

“Yes, even though a part of me is scared. Even breathing next to them makes you a target, you know that, but I can’t stop living these moments because of it.” Wonsik laughed at something Taekwoon had said and the older smiled at him, making Sanghyuk’s heart tighten. “It’s definitely not worth it.”

Hakyeon used the hand on the younger waist to pull them together to the other three, maybe finding a way to help.

Assembling the shelf was surprisingly easy once Wonsik got there, which Taekwoon found to be a personal offense to his intellect, but he was glad they were done with that.

Once the shelf was up all there was left to do was putting Sanghyuk’s books there and his clothes in the closet. They divided themselves to do the tasks and amongst singing, talking and drinking, time went by fast.

When it was over they sat around the table, divided into two groups of two and Taekwoon, because as he had said, he didn’t need help to win. The game was Jenga, and the hitman was, in fact, doing really well.

“Do you have a dog?” Wonsik asked between the laughing after Hakyeon had almost knocked the tower down, thinking he’d heard barking.

“No,” Jaehwan answered immediately and concentrated on the game.

“Stop cheating!” Hakyeon complained, getting up to lean over the table and slap Jaehwan, but held back by Taekwoon’s hand on his belt, sitting back down with a thump.

“He’s not cheating,” Wonsik defended his teammate with a calm voice, face neutral.

Sanghyuk’s mouth gaped. “Wonsik,” he called in a tone that made it clear he was not believing what he’d heard.

Wonsik grabbed another piece of chicken from the takeout box so his soulmate wouldn’t see his lying smile, nibbling on it. Hakyeon snorted, shaking his head.

“You’re not good for this kid, Jae,” the oldest said and Jaehwan pouted, throwing his arms clumsily around Wonsik.

In doing so, he slammed his hand on the table and knocked over the Jenga tower, pieces flying everywhere.

“That’s it, I won,” Taekwoon announced. “Hyuk, should I go upstairs?” he asked his friend, staring at him like they were having a silent conversation.

Sanghyuk nodded at him wordlessly and Wonsik frowned, confused on why he had asked that, but since the rest seemed unbothered, so he thought it was best to ask later.

“So, how’s it going with you two?” Jaehwan asked as they started to put the pieces back in the box, trying to bring Wonsik’s attention to the table.

“Sanghyuk and I? G-Good. Right?” Wonsik exchanged looks with his soulmate, blushing further when the younger smiled.

“Ready to move in together? Get married? Have kids?” Hakyeon attacked then, standing next to Jaehwan and wearing the same smile. A team.

“Why do all your friends keep bringing up kids?” Wonsik managed to ask the blue-haired.

Sanghyuk buried his face on his hands, mortified. “I don’t know,” he whined, not knowing how to explain himself. “I swear I’m not asking them to tell you this, I don’t have baby fever or anything,” he said, eyes peeking between his fingers and Wonsik made a noise between a gasp and a choking sound.

“We’ll probably start with a dog,” Wonsik said, looking at Sanghyuk for some agreement, missing the smiles on Hakyeon and Jaehwan’s faces.

Sanghyuk reached for his hand, caressing it. “Yeah, that sounds perfect.”

And then there was barking again, no denying it was inside the house. Wonsik looked to the direction it had come from and down the stairs came Taekwoon, holding what was obviously a small puppy.

As soon as he reached the bottom, he put the small dog on the floor, which started running around frenetically, barking, smelling everything, overwhelmed by the number of things to explore in the living room.

“Oh my god.” Wonsik gasped, getting on his knees and calling the dog, whistling to it and slamming his hands on his thighs. The little thing bolted his way, wanting to play and Wonsik opened his arms to it immediately. “Oh my god,” he repeated, voice high pitched, overwhelmed with happiness in an instant. “Hi, buddy, hi,” he greeted and the dog barked his way, spinning in the same spot, apparently happy to see him too. “You’re so cute! Look at the little tail, the little legs, the little butt!” he said, not knowing what to squeeze first.

Wonsik could tell it looked like a mixed breed of something with a french bulldog, still a puppy, cream colored and very playful, trying to bite his fingers, his ears perked up as he ran from one side to the other, getting to know the stranger. The silver-haired chuckled, running his hand through its fur and getting an approval bark in return.

“I thought you said you don’t have a dog?” Wonsik looked up at Jaehwan.

“I don’t,” Jaehwan said. Wonsik frowned.

Sanghyuk sat next to Wonsik on the floor and the dog went straight to him, rubbing his head on the blue-haired’s thighs, asking for attention.

“He’s been with us for two days, doesn’t have a name yet,” Sanghyuk said and Wonsik’s eyes went wide, really wide, accompanied by an equally big smile.

“He’s yours?”

“He’s ours, if you want to.”

“Really?” Wonsik asked, eyes sparkling.

Sanghyuk nodded. “Jae said it’s okay for him to live here with me, so he can keep going back and forth between your place and mine, if you would like to. I thought this could be our first boy,” he said, smiling at his soulmate.

“Of course I would like to!” Wonsik said, throwing his arms around Sanghyuk’s neck, kissing whenever on his face he could reach. “I can’t believe we have a dog! Together!” he said excitedly, smiling against Sanghyuk’s lips. “You got us a dog, mon chéri!”

The puppy was just as excited by the interaction, enjoying the sudden movements of the men in front of him, trying to bite the fabric on Wonsik’s sleeve.

Sanghyuk laughed. “I adopted him, actually. One of the doctors at the hospital said they couldn’t keep the puppies her dog had and asked if I wanted one, so I took him. He’s a mix of her frenchie with something she didn’t know,” he said and chuckled.

Wonsik looked at the dog, biting on his jeans and it looked up at him with round eyes, caught in the act.

“Hey,” Wonsik said apprehending, petting his head softly and the dog ran across the room clumsy, stumbling on his small legs, making him giggle. “He was up there all this time?”

“He was sleeping in Jaehwan’s room, I was waiting for the right time to bring him down to meet you.”

Wonsik held Sanghyuk’s face between his hands, caressing his skin with his fingers, feeling their bond flow, then gave him a gentle peck. “I love you,” he murmured, overflowing with the feeling. “Thank you for making me so happy.”

“Oh my god, you’re so precious,” Hakyeon said and Wonsik almost jumped, reminded they were not alone.

When the soulmates looked up they saw Jaehwan with the sweetest, most adoring gaze on and Taekwoon smiling, pleased.

“Told you he would say yes,” Jaehwan said, a smug smile taking his features. “He was really nervous about you not wanting the dog.”

Wonsik snorted, the noise making the dog’s head peek from around the furniture and start looking where it had come from. “I would never say no to a dog, who would say no to a dog?” he asked, reaching his arms for the puppy and smiling when it bolted his way.

“Some very twisted human being,” Sanghyuk joked.

“Now we need a name,” Wonsik said. “We can exactly just call him dog.”

“You could, that would be funny actually, imagine going around calling him dog,” Taekwoon said and giggled.

Wonsik looked at him and chuckled. “You’re surprisingly- soft,” he said before he could stop himself, wondering if Taekwoon would be okay with that.

The others burst into laughter. “He is,” Hakyeon agreed.

Taekwoon got rosy and that made Wonsik laugh too.

“I do agree we need a stupid name,” Sanghyuk said.

Wonsik nodded and called the dog again, lifting him and scratching under its ears with his fingers.

“Who are you, friend,” Wonsik asked the dog, holding him in front of his eyes, hands under his front paws, the full puppy tummy sticking out. Wonsik giggled at the sight and nuzzled at the fur on his neck, the dog trying to bite his nose as he did so. “Hey, you butthead, don’t do that,” he said laughing and the dog barked.

Wonsik set the dog between his legs, and began to scratch his head. “We should call him that,” Sanghyuk said.

“Butthead?” Wonsik asked and the others laughed.

“Why not Butt like we talked about before?” Sanghyuk asked and Wonsik laughed, leaning into his soulmate’s face and kissing his cheek.

“Butt is perfect,” Wonsik said and lifted the dog again, the small thing’s legs dangling in the air. “You’re Butt,” the dog barked, “oh you like it.” He laughed.

“Can’t believe our first boy is called Butt,” Sanghyuk said, huffing out a laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also like this fic got to 2000 hit wow like thanks- you are all great, thank you. 
> 
> see you sooooon, pinky promise
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/beanguni)


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im starting to think i hate hongbin .............
> 
> (tw: parental abuse / domestic violence !!! there is descriptions of it, pls be aware of it when u read ok)

As he sank himself into the tub filled with ice-cold water Hongbin gritted his teeth, starting to shiver immediately, he hated it and unfortunately, it was all too familiar, too recurring.

Hongbin didn’t allow himself to cry even when he was in the silent bathroom, not because he didn’t want to, but mainly because he knew he had to be somewhere in a few hours and he couldn’t have his eyes all puffed up and red.

He sank himself in the bathtub down to where only his nose and eyes would be left out of the water, trying to force his muscles to relax, to heal. He had to be back at work in one hour, he didn’t have time for pain, he had an important meeting with the Japan people that night, the first time meeting them.

Hongbin was shaking, not only from having immersed himself in painfully cold water, but shaking from anger for once again not having stood up for himself. Every time discussions would happen, Hongbin found himself freezing, letting his father put bruises on his skin as if he wasn’t strong enough to fight back. He could, physically, but something forbade him to, forced him to just stand there and take it like a man, just as his father had dictated he should ever since he could remember.

It was not a big deal, Hongbin repeated like a mantra as he felt the cold numbing his body. He would heal.

Hongbin closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing, keeping it deep, slow and rhythmic, exactly the way he knew it would work to keep him grounded, to keep his thoughts from going too far. He was lucky, his anxiety never took control of him.

Surprisingly, the water’s cold embrace was comforting, and Hongbin found himself relaxing in it, head feeling heavy on his shoulders, legs becoming limp, fingers not squeezing into a fist anymore.

Hongbin only realized he had fallen asleep when a faint buzz woke him up. He blinked himself awake, lids heavy as he looked around and took in his surroundings. The water was not as cold anymore, how long had he slept for?

He looked for his phone and his eyes widened. “Shit,” he hissed when he checked the time, suddenly very awake. It was Bang calling, but he couldn’t pick up, the voice would give it away that he’d been _sleeping_. How irresponsible of him, he thought, falling asleep after the abuse he’d endured.

Hongbin placed his hands on the side of the tub to help him get up, but immediately whimpered in pain. Something hurt _a lot_. He looked at his right hand and noticed the bone that usually poked from his wrist wasn’t showing anymore, the area around it swollen. He tried again, but that just made him let out another pained noise.

He sighed in annoyance. How irresponsible of him, he thought, not healing after the abuse he’d been through. It was always his fault.

Hongbin nested his right arm on his chest and used his left hand as a help to get up, thanking the gods more than ever for making him left handed. He glanced at the mirror and sighed in relief, the red marks had faded and it appeared nothing would leave a mark that time. He hated having to look at them later, it reminded him of everything.

He brushed a hand on his chest, on his stomach and thighs, everything smooth, painless, thankfully. His shoulders hurt, but he knew it was from the stress, and as his hands trailed down on his side he felt something stinging. He angled himself to check on the mirror and saw a cut, purple around it.

_Hongbin laughed, not letting his fear show as his father grabbed his collar with both hands again. He never put his head down, he never looked as vulnerable as he felt._

_“And what did I tell you?” the man hissed, centimeters away from his face._

_“To inform you when big changes happened,” Hongbin answered dully, sounding all too calm when in reality there was a turmoil inside of him._

_“And did you, Hongbin?”_

_“No. I told you, this is my job and I will take care of it by myself.”_

_Hongbin could see the moment he knew he had pushed his father over the edge, the man pulling him forward and going to shove him back against the wall. Hongbin knew that move, so he did what he was used to, throwing the middle part of his body back so his head wouldn’t slam against the wall, he hated the headache that left._

_He didn’t notice, however, he was right next to the fancy antique dresser, and when he angled his body to avoid hurting his head, he banged his back full force on the sharp edge of the beautiful black marble top._

Hongbin pressed his fingers delicately around the bruised skin, it didn’t seem to be bleeding anymore. When he had taken his shirt off before going into the bath he had noticed a bit of blood on it and now he had found the cause, probably had torn the fabric.

He couldn’t pay too much attention to that, he had plenty of other options for shirts and he needed to leave immediately. Hongbin got ready as quickly as he could, putting on the same suit he had been wearing before for the sake of saving time and another white shirt on, cursing whenever he would bump his wrist anywhere, annoyed at how it hadn’t gotten better. It was always his fault.

He glanced at himself at the mirror, he was ready, every evidence of what had happened hidden under layers of clothes and a fake neutral expression. He sprayed on some perfume on his neck and rushed out of the door.

His car had an autopilot function, so he kept the good hand on the wheel and the other on his lap, murmuring his obligations to himself so he wouldn’t forget to do anything as he made his way to the house.

As he got there, he stopped to take a deep breath right before he walked in, wanting to look calm and collected.

As soon as his key touched the door he heard loud voices, people fighting with each other and he sighed, looking at his watch. He was two hours late and everything seemed to be falling apart, which was rare, considering Bang always had everything under control.

“What’s going on?” Hongbin asked from the living room, loudly, knowing he would be heard.

Out of one of the rooms came YJ and Zelo, bickering about something, talking over each other in an attempt to explain themselves first. Hongbin raised his hands like a tired parent, trying to appease the two.

“Where have you been?” YJ almost screamed. “This place is falling apart without you!”

Hongbin huffed out a laugh, flattered by the comment. “Traffic,” he lied. “Why are you screaming at each other?”

“This fucking idiot drained it one hour and a half earlier because he said you said it was okay,” Zelo began and before Hongbin could reply he continued, “I told him you wouldn’t say that!”

YJ looked like he would fly on his friend’s neck. “He did!” He turned to Hongbin. “You did!”

Hongbin shook his head patiently. “No, I didn’t.”

Zelo laughed. “I told you!” YJ sulked. “You thought he did because you won’t stop staring at N for a damn second to pay attention to anything he says,” the younger said and ran back into his room before YJ could hit him.

“Leave me out of it,” Hakyeon said from inside of his own room, sounding like an overworked teacher.

YJ snorted and Hongbin shook his head, patting him on the back so they could go back to his room and solve the problem.

To his surprise, Leo and Han were sitting in a corner looking at something on the hitman’s phone as Ken and N were sitting in the other, playing some game of cards, clearly waiting for Hongbin to arrive so they could solve the situation YJ had created.

“Taking a break?” Hongbin asked Han first, wondering why he was there.

“The kitchen is locked,” Sanghyuk explained.

Hongbin raised a brow. “Why?”

“I don’t know, Bang had to leave, so he locked it. Is it not what he always does?”

No, it was not. Hongbin knew Bang never locked the kitchen, he had no reason too.

“Is Bang not here?” Hongbin asked.

Han shook his head, but didn’t say anything else, didn’t explain where had he gone, he didn’t know.

Leo was the one to answer him. “Him, Himchan, Jongup and Aka went out to meet the buyers that are in town, said you didn’t pick up,” he said, knowing Sanghyuk hadn’t been informed about that.

Hongbin nodded, also not elaborating on why he was late. On top of not having any excuses to give Bang for missing the important meeting with the buyers, he knew if he had been on time he would have been able to avoid YJ from messing it up whatever he had. He felt guilty about having fallen asleep, but he was so tired when he got home, in so much pain, he had to take the pills so he could handle it, but he ended up getting drowsy from them.

“So what have you done again?” Hongbin asked YJ.

“Drained it one hour and a half earlier,” YJ said, sounding guilty.

“Where were you?” Hongbin asked the rest.

“Right here, he told us you said it was okay,” N said, lowering the game on his hand and pointing a mocking finger in Jaehwan’s face, having won. Jaehwan sighed, leaning back on the wall, defeated.

“He didn’t,” YJ explained and the rest acted nothing but surprised, they knew, but the annoying man had insisted.

Hongbin sighed, sliding his blazer off carefully as to not hurt his throbbing wrist and throwing it over some chemicals in the corner. “Show me,” he said to YJ, rolling his sleeves up, wanting to solve the first problem before Bang got back and he had to solve the second. Jaehwan just observed the beautiful Armani piece being thrown carelessly, pouting slightly, wanting to care for it as it deserved. Hakyeon noticed the brown-haired’s outraged look and chuckled, he knew how much Jaehwan liked clothing, his closet looked like the inside of a luxury store.

When YJ tried to make excuses for the wrong he’d done, Hongbin raised his brow and just stopped him, telling him it was already done and it was not that much of a big deal. He didn’t humiliate him while at it, he never did, he was just very straight forward.

Sanghyuk was still having a hard time reading Hongbin, he’d never met someone who blocked him so well before, not even Taekwoon when they first met. It was not that Hongbin didn’t like Sanghyuk, in fact, he was awfully nice to the younger, it was just he didn’t open up to anyone there. The blue-haired could occasionally feel whispers of his soul when he talked to Hakyeon or Taekwoon, the first because he seemed to have warmed up (as everyone ended up doing) to the pilot’s friendly way and the second because Taekwoon was the only one there that was able to unsettle his energy enough. Sanghyuk ended up not having enough to make a judgment on his character yet.

Hongbin crouched on the floor so he could grab one of the pieces of the raw dry product, inspecting it for a moment before putting it down. He rubbed the residue between his fingers, analyzing the texture to see if it was any different from the others that had been made properly under his supervision. He didn’t bring it close to his nose or any other way that would make it possible for the drug to enter his system, but he could tell it was different.

“The purity will be lower once it’s refined,” Hongbin concluded, looking up YJ. “Don’t make a habit out of it, please, our deadline is around the corner,” he said, getting up with a small grunt of discomfort and patting YJ’s shoulder twice, it wasn’t that much of a big deal. YJ nodded, understanding the message, he would pay less attention to N and more attention to Hongbin’s instructions from then on.

Hongbin got a small headrush from standing up too fast and he noticed then he’d skipped dinner again. He thought about leaving the house for a moment to buy something to eat, but he disregarded the idea when he remembered Bang could come back while he was out, that would only make things worse.

He was hungry, in pain and exhausted, but the bright side was the day was close to ending and he would be able to sleep soon.

“Hongbin,” Hakyeon’s voice came from behind him, distracting him from his empty stomach. The younger turned to his direction, the small smile on his lips fading when he saw the expression on the pilot’s face. “You’re bleeding.” He sounded distressed and Hongbin noticed Hakyeon and all others in the room were staring at the small of his waist.

Apparently, everyone had seen, all eyes on him. Hongbin’s heart skipped a beat and he turned his back away from the others in a reflex, trying to protect himself. He felt like a circus animal, on the show, and his throat began to tighten. The thing with panic is it doesn’t see reason, at that moment Hongbin didn’t think anyone would assume he fell or simply hurt himself, he thought everyone would assume his father had beat him up and like always, he did nothing. He assumed people would know his secret, that he was vulnerable, that he was weak.

“What happened?” Hakyeon asked, taking a step forward. Hongbin took one back, glancing at the door, thinking about running away from there.

“Nothing, I’m fine.” Hongbin’s feet moved before he even told them to, launching himself to the door. He just wanted to escape.

Hakyeon acted in an impulse much like Hongbin had, reaching for the younger’s arm in an attempt not to hold him in the situation that he obviously didn’t want to be in, but to check if he was okay.

As soon as Hakyeon’s hand wrapped around Hongbin’s wrist firmly, the younger let out the most broken, desperate, hopeless pained noise, and then he really looked like a circus animal, hurt, afraid, exposed. Hongbin pulled his hand back roughly, nesting it on his chest as he looked around the room, eyes wide.

Sanghyuk could feel it then, Hongbin’s soul baring itself slightly for him at the expense of his vulnerability, his moment of weakness. However curious he had been about Hongbin, the blue-haired didn’t focus on that, he couldn’t when someone was obviously hurt in front of him, all his attention turned to trying to understand what was wrong so he could help Hongbin somehow.

Hongbin couldn’t think of any way to explain himself, so his mind put the previous plan of escaping back on track and he left the room without saying another word, going somewhere he couldn’t be seen.

Hakyeon was still standing in the same spot, hand hovering in the air, lips parted and ready to say the words he had long forgotten by now.

“What just happened?” YJ asked, confused.

Jaehwan shook his head, not knowing either. None of them had ever seen Hongbin like that, so bare, looking fragile and small. More than that, none of them had ever seen Hongbin obviously physically hurt.

“Do you think someone found him?” Jaehwan looked over to his partner, finding his expression was solid as a rock, eyes shifting into something dark as he heard Jaehwan’s words.

“Only one way to find out,” Taekwoon murmured and got up to find Hongbin. Sanghyuk intervened, reaching for him.

“Don’t, L, don’t. We don’t know what happened, but you saw him, the last thing he needs right now is an interrogation. Let me check on him,” Sanghyuk said, putting his body between Taekwoon and the exit.

“But-” Taekwoon began, but Sanghyuk shook his head.

“Let me check if he is okay,” Sanghyuk repeated with a low voice. Taekwoon let out a breath, nodding against his will.

Something was screaming at Taekwoon to follow Sanghyuk out the door, but he knew he shouldn’t, making the effort to stay where he was, hands fisted on his sides as a bad feeling invaded him.

Sanghyuk wasn’t about to make a scene and scream Hongbin’s name in the house to locate him, so the younger just silently started to look around the small place. He found Hongbin in the last place he looked, the garden. It seemed everything dramatic that happened in that house took place in that garden.

When Hongbin heard the noise of the door opening behind him his head whipped around, speaking to the intruder without even recognizing who it was.

“Look, just give me a few minutes, I’ll be in a second.” His voice was steady but somehow not at the same time, lost in the midst of emotions he was feeling. The panic had dulled down when the rational part of his brain kicked in and reminded him his secret was safe, Hongbin being left with the disappointment for the way he’d reacted, anger for not having protected himself better and worry of the damage he had done by exposing himself like that.

Hongbin was canalizing all the bad feelings towards himself, he was wrong, he had fucked up, it was his fault. His father had hit him because he stood up to him, it was his large mouth that got him into that situation and it was his lack of professionalism and set boundaries that made it escalate. He was the one to blame, now he would take a deep breath, suck it up and fix it.

“I just want to check up on you,” Sanghyuk said, not taking a single step forward, waiting for Hongbin to allow him to get closer. That’s how he dealt with his patients and that’s what Hongbin had become.

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not,” Sanghyuk said, gently. “I won’t ask questions, that’s not how we do things around here, Hongbin, you don’t need to tell me anything. I’ll check if you’re okay and that’s it.”

Hongbin sighed. He wouldn’t go to a hospital, he never did, because people asked questions he couldn’t answer, but what Han had just proposed sounded perfect.

“Fine,” Hongbin murmured and it was only then when Sanghyuk got closer to him.

Hongbin heard steps and he could feel Sanghyuk’s presence behind him, wide frame and tall figure, but not intimidating.

Sanghyuk walked around Hongbin and sat next to him.

“Turn my way,” Sanghyuk said, tone neutral and professional, and in that Hongbin found a tremendous amount of comfort.

Hongbin did, lifting his leg to straddle the bench exactly as Sanghyuk had done himself, facing the younger.

“Which hand did you hurt?”

“Right wrist,” Hongbin murmured and before Sanghyuk even asked, he offered his arm to him.

Sanghyuk nodded and took Hongbin’s hand with his own, so unexpectedly gentle Hongbin felt bad for flinching. The younger lifted it up so the light coming from the house would hit it and he could see better.

He could tell immediately it was sprained, it wouldn’t have swollen that much if it wasn’t, but he still placed two fingers on the spot above where his bone should be, applying a small amount of pressure to it.

Hongbin hissed and Sanghyuk didn’t need to ask if it hurt.

“It’s sprained,” Sanghyuk said, placing Hongbin’s hand down on his thigh. He looked up to the older’s face. “The most important thing right after the injury is icing it, ice it as most as you can when you get home today. Then elevate it and rest it. Are you right-handed?”

“Left-handed.”

“It’s your lucky day, because you need to immobilize it,” Sanghyuk said and Hongbin sighed, dreading the idea. The younger chuckled, all patients, at the hospital or in the streets had the same reaction. “Yes, sorry, buy a splint. I’ll keep checking on you as time goes by, but I’m thinking at least a week.”

“I’ll buy one on the way home.”

Sanghyuk smiled. “Good. Now- can I check whatever is bleeding on your back?” he asked and the relaxed expression on Hongbin’s face turned stiff.

“It’s just an old small scratch, I think the shirt rubbed it the wrong way and opened again,” Hongbin lied.

Sanghyuk gave him a faint smile. “I told you, no questions, I just want to take a look at it.”

Hongbin then gave a small nod, hesitant, and the younger got up, going around and sitting behind him. “May I lift your shirt?” Sanghyuk asked, showing he wouldn’t do anything to make him uncomfortable. Hongbin just nodded.

Even if Sanghyuk wasn’t a doctor he would have been able to tell those cuts weren’t a result of a fall. They were all going in different directions, distanced wider apart than a fall would have caused, had different depths and were surrounded by accompanying bruises. He had been hit with or pushed against something several times. It was recent, that he could tell, it was still red and swollen, not purple or green yet.

Hongbin had been right about one thing, nothing was deep enough to be serious, and the shirt rubbing on the area was probably what made them start bleeding. Once again, recent. Sanghyuk wouldn’t have ruled out the possibility of that having been made with his consent, he didn’t know what Hongbin was into, but his reaction and the sprained wrist made it quite clear someone had done that to him.

“Wash it with some neutral soap and try not to sleep on your back. It will hurt tomorrow, don’t be scared to take pain killers, they exist for a reason,” Sanghyuk said, putting the shirt back in place. “Try to get some rest.”

Hongbin got up and turned around, more comfortable when he could _see_ Han.

“Thank you,” Hongbin said sincerely, even if he was just trying to bring the conversation to an end so he could get back inside, back to business.

Sanghyuk smiled at him. “Don’t mention it.”

They walked back to the house together, silently, to the older’s relief.

The calmness didn’t last long, though, because when Hongbin opened the door he saw Bang and the others had returned. Jongup bolted his way.

“What happened?” Jongup asked, stopping centimeters away from him.

Hongbin looked around, the others were all observing.

“With what?”

“With you.” Jongup looked him up and down. “YJ said you were bleeding,” he announced to everyone to hear.

Hongbin pushed the nervousness down, he already had some time to pull himself together. The lie was at the tip of his tongue.

“He slipped and fell down the stairs of his house,” Sanghyuk said before Hongbin could.

Jongup looked between the two, suspicious. “Enough to bleed?”

Sanghyuk chuckled, slightly forced, but the ones that didn’t know him that well weren’t able to tell. “He was leaving in a rush and it’s raining today.”

The lie was not perfect, but apparently was good enough for Jongup to buy it, because he looked less concerned.

“If someone ever come close to you, tell us,” Jongup said to Hongbin.

Hongbin raised a brow. “I can’t take care of myself.”

Bang chuckled. “Against stairs, sure, but he means if someone somehow finds you. That’s the whole reason why we have Leo and Ken here, Hongbin, remember that,” he said, not buying the lie entirely. Everyone was looking at Hongbin and he found himself nervous again, but Bang noticed it and changed the subject for his sake, it was no good to press him in front of everyone. “Since we’re all here, I’ll tell you guys what was settled with the buyers.”

“About the change on the day?” YJ asked.

Bang nodded. “Yes, everything is confirmed for the 15th now and even though Hongbin was not there, he had spoken with them on the phone before and settled the last details. There was no major issue, really.”

Hongbin let out a relieved sigh, feeling at least that weight lift off his chest. “Good, thankfully. Sorry I wasn’t there.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry,” Bang reassured.

“The buyers did say you took care of everything as soon as they asked about the change, called everyone involved both in Japan and Korea, solved everything in two days, they were very impressed,” Aka said.

“I’m good at my job,” Hongbin said with a joking tone.

“Clearly,” Aka said and laughed.

“They wanted to meet you, though,” Himchan said.

“We’ll have time for that, I’ll meet them before the second delivery for sure. Now the new date is settled the last problem is out of the way, we are on time, right?” Hongbin looked at Bang and he nodded.

“Yeah, since Han got here things started to fall back on track,” Bang responded, looking at the youngest.

“He’s brought luck, I’ve noticed.” He smiled. “Now let’s get to work, the night has barely begun.”

In saying that the group spread, each person going back to their obligations, but Bang came towards Hongbin.

“Go home,” Bang said with a low, calm voice.

Hongbin frowned. “What? Why?”

“Hongbin, you’re bleeding.” Hongbin was ready to reply he was okay, but he didn’t have a chance. “You look rough, pale, just go home to rest.”

“I’m fine enough to work,” Hongbin said simply. He wasn’t dying, that meant he could work.

Bang shook his head. “You’re exhausted and probably in pain, give yourself the night off. Go home.”

Hongbin expected Bang to be mad at him for not picking up the phone, but as usual, he was surprised by his kindness, thoughtfulness.

“Go,” Bang placed a hand on Hongbin’s shoulder, squeezing it gently, “I can’t keep everything on check for today, Hongbin, go take care of yourself.”

Hongbin looked at the man in front of him and sighed. “Fine.” Bang lowered his hand and nodded, content. “Thank you, I’ll go home.”

\--

Hongbin shivered slightly in his sleep, feet feeling cold, but as if his mind had been read, he felt the weight of the thick covers on his shoulders. He pressed his head further into the pillow he was hugging, humming approvingly as he felt the comfortable warmth drag him back to sleep.

Wonsik made himself comfortable on his brother’s bed again, placing his computer on his lap so he could continue to work on his paper. Hongbin was still sleeping too deeply to wake up when Wonsik got into his room, not even moving when Wonsik unbuckled and pulled his belt off so that he would be more comfortable. The silver-haired noticed Hongbin had a splint around his right wrist and worried a little bit, but at least apparently he had gone to a hospital the night before to get it checked.

After a few hours, Wonsik decided he had done enough work and got up, going downstairs to see if his grandparents were up already.

“Hey, honey,” his grandmother greeted as Wonsik got into the living room.

Wonsik smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek, followed by a hug on his grandfather.

“Good morning. Everyone in this house slept in today, huh?” Wonsik commented.

“What time did you get here?” his grandfather asked.

“Around seven, Hongbin told me yesterday he wanted to go out for brunch after we worked out, but he slept in,” Wonsik said, then shrugged. “It’s fine, I think he hurt his hand anyway, he shouldn’t be going to the gym.”

His grandmother frowned. “He hurt his hand?”

Wonsik nodded. “He has a splint on his wrist, I think he hurt it and ended up going to a hospital after work yesterday.” The couple looked worried, so he added with a soft voice, “It’s probably okay, he trips over his own feet all the time, you know him.”

They laughed. “You’re right.”

Wonsik chuckled, nodding. “I’m going to take a few things upstairs, breakfast in bed for the injured soldier.”

“I could have the maid bring it up for you, Sikkie.”

“It’s fine, I’m here already.” He thanked them and gave them a smile before leaving.

Wonsik started to collect things he thought they could have for breakfast, mainly the things their grandparents had left from the time they ate, making two trips up the stairs to take all the food in, placing it around the table Hongbin had near the window, taking all the work stuff off of it.

Once everything was somewhat organized Wonsik walked back to the bed, Hongbin still sleeping soundly, looking peaceful and content.

“Bin,” Wonsik called with a mellow tone, placing a hand over the lump he reckoned was his friend’s shoulder under the covers. Hongbin shifted, grunting softly and buried his head on the pillow. “Breakfast,” he said and Hongbin grunted again in response, proving he was listening.

Wonsik placed a hand on the other’s messy hair, rubbing his fingertips on the scalp in the way he knew Hongbin hated, getting a protesting grunt in return. His hand trailed down his brother’s bare shoulders, pinching the skin lightly, then going to his collarbones and pressing down on the bone.

“Kim Wonsik,” Hongbin warned, still not opening his eyes. He knew the silver-haired was the only one to wake him like that, annoying him.

Wonsik chuckled, pulling on his brother’s earlobe once before he took his hand away. “Morning, princess, slept okay?”

Hongbin grunted on the sheets one last time before opening his eyes, seeing Wonsik leaning over his bed with a smug smile.

If Hongbin had the strength he would have snorted. “Felt more like a coma. What time is it?”

“Half past ten.”

Hongbin licked his dry lips. “I slept in through our plans. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, I don’t think you should work out with that, anyway.” Wonsik motioned his head to Hongbin’s hand, covered by the black-colored splint. “What happened?”

Hongbin seemed to have remembered it too, opening and closing his fingers to see if there was any pain. There wasn’t, thankfully, all the ice seemed to have helped. “I fell,” he said lifelessly, knowing how unconvincing he sounded.

Wonsik raised a brow. “Where?”

Hongbin reluctantly sat down on the bed, noticing his back still hurt even if when he didn’t have a shirt on to rub against his bruises. He wondered if Wonsik had seen that yet.

“Father’s room,” he answered, rubbing the space between his eyes.

Wonsik’s expression hardened. “He’s breaking your bones now?”

Hongbin cleared his throat. “It’s just sprained, Sik, doesn’t even hurt.”

Wonsik leaned away from the bed, folding his arms on his chest. “Oh, sure, he didn’t break one of your bones, that makes it okay. What happened?” he asked, angry.

“You know we’ve decided to push the first delivery from the morning of the 14th to late night of the 15th, but mom and dad will be leaving town 1 a.m. of the 16th, so he won’t be able to be there anymore,” Hongbin said, trying to raise his arms to stretch, but his lower back stung, so he slumped back down.

“And he was mad at you? The Japan people were the ones that asked for the change,” Wonsik said, just as into the loop as Hongbin was.

“I know, he was upset I didn’t inform him about it, he happened to call Himchan and he was the one that told him.”

Wonsik huffed. “And he decided to sprain your wrist over it?”

Hongbin lowered his head, the words making him feel embarrassed even if that wasn’t Wonsik’s intent. “I was about to fall and ended up twisting it the wrong way trying to hold myself up.”

Wonsik tried to soften his tone, pushing the rage down, Hongbin didn’t need that, he needed someone to stay by his side. “Was it just the wrist?”

Hongbin didn’t say anything as he angled his back towards Wonsik so he could see what he thought was just a cut, but actually was a collection of small cuts and scratches surrounded by several purple and yellow bruises from the number of times his father shoved him against the corner of the furniture until his shirt finally ripped and bared his skin to it.

Wonsik only looked at it once, not managing to stay at it for too long, it would only make him angrier and on the edge of crying from feeling so helpless.

“Did the doctor at the hospital gave you something for the pain?” Wonsik asked and Hongbin turned back to him.

“Didn’t go to the hospital. The new guy, Sanghyuk’s doppelganger, took a look at it,” Hongbin said ironically.

“The people at the house saw it?” Wonsik’s eyes widened, ignoring how weird he felt about Hongbin’s joke.

Hongbin sighed. “Yes, I bled through my shirt and they saw it, a whole dramatic scene,” he said, turning his eyes.

Wonsik rubbed his eyes and huffed, trying to hold himself from saying bad things about Hongbin’s father, because he thought the fact Joohyuk managed to cause his son trouble even when he was away from him was absurd.

“What did they think of it?”

“Han didn’t ask any questions, really, so I don’t know. I just ignored it completely and so did they,” Hongbin said, not knowing that wasn't exactly the case.

Wonsik had another million questions to ask, but Hongbin was starting to look tense, sound sad and that was not his intention, so he thought it was best to distract him from it.

“I made breakfast,” Wonsik said and pointed to the table, Hongbin noticing it for the first time. He smiled.

“By that you mean you boiled an egg, warmed the rice and grabbed whatever else grandma and grandad didn’t eat,” Hongbin corrected.

“Peeling the shell off would be too much work, don’t you think? I fried the egg,” he joked, going to sit on the table in an invitation to the other.

Hongbin chuckled, relaxing again, lifting the covers up and climbing off the bed. He went to his closet, shimming it out of his trousers and searching for something he could wear to be more comfortable while eating.

Wonsik’s face twisted when his brother distractedly turned his back to him as he looked for the sweatpants he wanted, he was covered in marks, coming from under the waistband of his underwear up to the middle of his back. Scratches, cuts, bruises tainting his skin and bringing the visual evidence of the abuse he’d experienced.

The silver-haired avoided to stare and pretended to be texting someone as Hongbin came back, eyes trained on the food, it seemed like forever since the last time he ate.

They ate and talked normally, Hongbin forgetting about his pain or troubles instantly, that’s the effect Wonsik had on him.

“You’re disgustingly in love,” Hongbin commented, reaching over with his spoon to steal some rice from Wonsik’s bowl, since he’d finished his.

Wonsik pushed the entire bowl towards his brother, letting him have it. “I would deny it, but it’s true, he’s perfect, flawless.” He shrugged, Hongbin turned his eyes.

“I really want to meet Sanghyuk and know what was about him that made you bend your knees so quickly,” Hongbin said, sipping on the soup.

“Other than the fact his soul was made to match mine?” His brother shrugged and Wonsik snorted. “You’ll just end up meeting in a few weeks at the Milky Way gala. It’s no use trying to schedule something before that, he’s way too busy right now and so are you.”

“Oh, that’s right, of course, he’s going to the gala with you. That’s great, I’m finally meeting Hyuk, can’t wait to see him.”

“Can’t believe it took a half a billion won event to get you to meet, you’re really going all out to make an impression on him, aren’t you?” he joked.

Hongbin turned his eyes. “One more reason to not mess up my speech, mister perfect will be watching me from the audience.”

Wonsik almost laughed at the nickname. “After we’re done with the event we could go drinking so he sees you’re not _actually_ a big deal.”

Hongbin laughed at that. “Whoa, thank you, Sik! I’ll take the offer, actually, I think I’ll need a lot of alcohol after the stress of the event.”

“Don’t worry, everything will go smoothly like it does every year, no surprises,” Wonsik said. Hongbin sighed.

“I hope so, nothing should go out of my control.”

“Hey,” Wonsik called softly. “I’ll be there with you, don’t worry.”

Hongbin smiled, as he always did when Wonsik said something soppy like that, always grateful, even more so when he felt more alone than ever before, hiding a huge dark secret from everyone. His brother was always there, supporting, understanding, thankfully.

“Are you holding up okay? The delivery and then the event one day after is a lot,” Wonsik said.

Hongbin sighed. “I am, but I’m equally worried about both. I won’t be going to Japan to witness the product getting there, to make sure everything goes well, so I’m nervous about something going wrong there, a surprise.”

Wonsik nodded. “I know, but you need to trust the people that are going know what they’re doing. Himchan will be there, you told me that guy can get out of almost any situation.”

Hongbin huffed out a laugh. “That’s true, he can. I know it will be fine, but it’s part of my job to worry, more than half of my people will be out of the country.”

“Are Leo and Ken going?”

“Yeah, Zelo too, I know they can take care of everything if it- escalates.” He cleared his throat. “But the most important thing is that Bang will be there, I trust him completely, he can handle it. Only Jongup, N and I are staying.”

“The new guy is going?” Wonsik asked, surprised.

“Bang wanted him to go, I told you he’s a doctor, if someone got hurt it would be useful to have Han there, but we didn’t decide anything yet. I don’t think Leo and Ken would take it well and I don’t know if another conflict is worth it now, the air is just starting to clear up.”

“Are they that close?”

Hongbin nodded. “Yes, they are. N is really close to them too, they were just very good at covering it up before, but there’s no use anymore, we caught on.”

“If that’s the case, just leave it as it is, Bin, tell Bang you don’t trust Han enough yet to let him participate, I’m sure he won’t insist.”

Hongbin thought about it for a moment, but he knew it was best that way, Ken was still slightly upset at him and things with Leo seemed to finally be getting less confrontational, lighting that fire again wouldn’t do anyone any good.

“You’re right,” Hongbin said, then sighed. “Yeah, you’re absolutely right. It’s two weeks from now, two days before the gala, I don’t want another headache.”

“Yeah, leave as it is, everything is already set and ready to go, it’s going to be fine, everything will go as planned,” Wonsik said and smiled, so much confidence in his tone it actually made Hongbin feel better.

“I wish the event was later, though, it’s too much at once,” Hongbin whined.

Wonsik huffed a laugh. “You can do it, Hongbin, stop whining. Nothing will go wrong at the gala too.”

Hongbin hummed. “Yes, the gala will be just fine,” he murmured, trying to calm himself.

\--

Sanghyuk liked the occasional drink, beer, soju, vodka. He wasn’t one to drink until he passed out, mainly because it took way too long to get to that stage and he lacked that strong will.

That night, however, he had gone a little bit past the tipsy phase.

“What are they doing?” Hakyeon asked, laughing.

Taekwoon shook his head. “No idea. Drunk wrestling?” he took a shot, looking at Jaehwan and Sanghyuk rolling around on the floor, both laughing so hard they were almost crying.

“Jaehwan is not even that drunk.” Hakyeon raised his brow, taking another sip of his own beer.

Taekwoon, the only one sober that night, shrugged, focused on his game. “Jaehwan missed him, I guess he’s using alcohol as an excuse to act like himself around Hyuk again, he’s too proud to say he’s not mad anymore.”

Hakyeon hummed, agreeing. “Sounds about right.”

Sanghyuk, even if very drunk, managed to spin Jaehwan around and get on top of him, holding his arms clumsily.

“I win!” the younger announced, letting his soulmate go immediately, knowing the moment Jaehwan tried to get away he would succeed.

Jaehwan snorted, a bit winded from the other’s weight on top of him, Sanghyuk just sitting casually on his stomach. “Fine, you win, no need to kill me,” he said, pushing the younger away.

Sanghyuk plopped onto the rug and immediately started to laugh again, rolling over so he would be lying right next to Jaehwan, unexpectedly throwing an arm and a leg over the older, hugging him.

“You’re very drunk,” Jaehwan noted, but stroked the very heavy arm that was on top of his chest fondly.

“No, I’m not,” he objected and squeezed Jaehwan, making the older complain. “You’re just cute.”

Taekwoon raised a brow. “Whoa,” he said, surprised that Sanghyuk could ever say those words to Jaehwan.

“You know who else is cute?” Sanghyuk continued, unfazed. “Wonsik. Wonsik is so cute, Jae.”

Jaehwan once again tried to push Sanghyuk’s weight from him, trying to shake his heavy leg off, but the younger resisted, making him puff.

“Wonsik is the cutest, he’s pretty, he’s sweet- but he’s so hot too,” Sanghyuk said and Hakyeon started to laugh. The youngest turned to look at him. “Don’t laugh! He’s so hot I don’t know how I haven’t died yet!” he continued dramatically, holding himself from hiccuping at the end of the sentence.

Jaehwan started to laugh, still trying to push his soulmate away, but suddenly the pressure was gone, Sanghyuk had rolled away.

“I’m going to call him _right now_ ,” Sanghyuk said, stumbling onto his feet. “I need him to know.”

“I think you might have told him before,” Hakyeon said, amused.

Sanghyuk huffed. “He needs to hear it again.”

Sanghyuk got his phone and dialed Wonsik’s number, which he knew by heart even drunk. For some reason, he thought it would be appropriate to put it on loudspeaker so everyone could hear.

“Hello?”

“Wonsik,” Sanghyuk said, sounding like he was melting at the sound of his boyfriend’s voice.

The other chuckled. “Hi, mon chéri, everything okay?”

“Yes! You know why?” he didn’t wait for an answer before he continued, “because you’re the cutest! The most adorable, you make me want to squeeze you! I love you!”

Hakyeon, Taekwoon and Jaehwan were just holding back their laughter, watching Sanghyuk pout into the phone’s speaker, the most blissful expression on his face.

“Oh my.” Wonsik exploded in laughter. “You’re drunk.”

Sanghyuk frowned. “I’m not saying this because I’m drunk, Kim Wonsik, you are-” he took in a deep breath, “perfect,” he let it out, “I- love you so much.”

Wonsik laughed harder. “You’re so funny, did you know that?” he said fondly.

“You’re hot!” Sanghyuk added out of nowhere and Wonsik choked on air on the other side. “Very hot, Kim Wonsik, very hot.”

“He wanted you to hear it again,” Hakyeon said loudly, making sure Wonsik would hear.

“Oh god, it’s on speaker, hi,” he greeted shyly.

“See! Cute!” Sanghyuk said as if his point had just been proven.

“I had never seen him this drunk before.”

Taekwoon chuckled. “It’s not very common, to be honest.”

Sanghyuk looked around him. “But you’re not seeing me,” he murmured in confusion when he didn’t find his boyfriend in Taekwoon’s living room. “I want you to see me.”

Wonsik chuckled. “I want to see you too, mon chéri, you can come over tomorrow, okay?”

Sanghyuk shook his head vigorously. “I want to see you _now_. Can you come over now?”

“Oh, Hyuk, I wouldn’t want to intrude in your friend’s game night again, I already did last time-”

“You didn’t intrude anywhere, we wanted you there,” Jaehwan said laughing. “Are you anywhere around? Taekwoon can pick you up, he didn’t drink.” Sanghyuk’s eyes sparkled with joy.

“Could you?” Sanghyuk asked Taekwoon with those big round eyes and flushed cheeks. There was really no way of denying it.

“Of course,” Taekwoon said.

“Oh, really?” Wonsik asked.

Taekwoon got up from the couch, going towards Sanghyuk and motioning him to give him the phone, which the younger promptly did. “Really. Sanghyuk has mentioned you at least 10 times today, I can pick you up. Are you at your place?”

“Yes.”

“We’ll pick you up in fifteen, then?” Taekwoon said and Sanghyuk beamed at his friend, making the older chuckle like an endeared parent.

“Sure- is it okay for me to bring Butt with me?” Wonsik asked.

It was Taekwoon’s time to beam. “Of course.”

“Okay, see you in fifteen then.” Everyone replied with soppy goodbyes and cute nicknames, making the silver-haired chuckle in embarrassment.

Sanghyuk threw himself on top of Taekwoon. “You’re the best.”

Taekwoon laughed, giving little pats on his friend’s back. “Let’s go.”

Taekwoon had taken his car keys up to his room when he got home, so he walked to the stairs to get them, realizing halfway there that Sanghyuk was right behind him.

The older laughed. “You’re going to help me get the keys from my desk?”

Sanghyuk nodded. “Yes,” he said simply, like it was obvious.

Taekwoon let Sanghyuk go in front of him in case he needed to hold the younger, but he seemed fine. It was very fast, of course, Taekwoon got his keys in less than a minute, dangling in front of the younger so he knew they could go.

Sanghyuk had sat on the bed meanwhile, pressing down on the mattress with his hands as if to judge its quality.

“This is a nice mattress,” Sanghyuk said.

Taekwoon laughed, crossing his arms over his chest. “It is, isn’t it.”

“Can I nap on it later?”

Taekwoon snorted out laughter. “Sure, kid.”

“Thanks,” Sanghyuk got up, “let’s go get my boyfriend and our dog. Our dog! That’s crazy, right-”

The younger was interrupted by himself tripping over his own feet, almost falling on the ground was it not for Taekwoon’s quick reflexes, helping his friend up.

“You didn’t fall down the stairs when we were coming up but you stumble on nothing now?” Taekwoon asked laughing, holding Sanghyuk’s arm firmly until he managed to stand by himself.

Sanghyuk snorted. “I wouldn’t want Hongbin to think I was copying him- even though he didn’t really fall,” he said with a conversational tone, not giving his words much thought until he saw Taekwoon’s expression change, become serious. Sanghyuk slapped his hanging mouth.

“So he didn’t fall?” Sanghyuk shook his head no, hand still covering his mouth shut, as if he was showing he wouldn’t say anything else. “Sanghyuk,” Taekwoon said with a reprimanding tone, like a parent telling their child they had one shot to say the truth or face the consequences.

Sanghyuk let his hand fall to his lap. “No, but- please don’t mention anything to him, he trusted me not to say anything.”

“Did he tell you what happened?” Taekwoon asked.

Sanghyuk shook his head no. “No, I just know he didn’t fall, the way he hurt himself seemed like- like self-defense,” he said, trying to focus through his intoxicated brain throwing useless memories at him.

“I never took him as the fighting type,” Taekwoon said, folding his arms over his chest.

Sanghyuk shook his head with vigor. “No, it wasn’t fighting either. Can you imagine, Hongbin fighting.” He laughed at the mental image.

Taekwoon raised his brow. “It kind of seems that you know what happened, kid.”

“No,” he whined, annoyed that Taekwoon didn’t understand the full picture even with his poor, drunk explaining skills. “He didn’t tell me but, I know. Do you know when you just know something? I know I know this, you know?” Sanghyuk said, thinking he was doing a terrific job at speaking and Taekwoon was dumb that night.

“So tell me what you know.”

“If you’re fighting someone with a knife, for example, the places you see cuts are here, here, and here,” he spoke from experience, pointing to the places, none of them where Hongbin had hurt himself. Taekwoon nodded understanding. “If you punch them, you break your pinky or your tendon, you don’t sprain your wrist! His wrist was _sprained_ , I _felt it_ ,” he said like it was obvious.

“So in your professional opinion, what happened, doctor?” Taekwoon asked, ironically, but Sanghyuk was too drunk to notice, being flattered even.

“It wasn’t just one small cut on his back, right? There were actually few of them, going on all different directions, new bruises,” Taekwoon’s smile began to fade, “and that’s the part that’s fucked up, old bruises too.”

Taekwoon caught up, something in his stomach twisting. “Someone has been beating him up?”

“Expert opinion?” Sanghyuk pointed at himself. “Yes, I told you, self-defense. The way he sprained his wrist seems like he was trying to hold someone back.” He recreated the way of the twist, trying to make it visual for his friend.

“Hyuk, are you sure this wasn’t a fight?”

Sanghyuk sighed deeply. “You’re not paying attention, please pay attention. It could have been! But did you see how he acted? He wasn’t trying to show off bruises of a fight he- he was acting like an assault victim would, Taek, hiding it, scared of having his secret out in the open, he was showing all the signs.” Sanghyuk seemed to have realized through the haze of the alcohol that that was a serious matter, because his expression began to mirror Taekwoon’s serious one.

“I’ll find out who it was,” Taekwoon said, anger in the back of his voice.

Sanghyuk shook his head immediately. “No! Taek, no! He was- he was- terrified, so scared I actually felt some of his soul for the first time, hot like fire, he was completely vulnerable.”

Taekwoon’s throat burned. “One more reason to do so, find out who it was and give them the same treatment.”

Sanghyuk shook his head, like he’d sobered up, realizing he'd said too much. “You still don’t get it, Taek. Why do you think I didn’t talk to anyone about this? Hongbin is not stupid, if this had been anything related to work, anyone threatening him, he would have told someone at the house to cover himself, protect himself.”

“What are you saying?”

“That what he was trying to do by hiding it was protecting- protecting someone else.”

Taekwoon opened his mouth to reply but quickly clamped it shut. He knew that feeling well, hiding the bruises his mother and father would leave on his skin when he went to school, even if that meant covering himself with jackets in summer. He knew the fear of being caught and having to explain where they had come from. He knew all of it and when he thought back to the night before, he wondered how he didn’t recognize it too.

“I wanted to do something too, but it’s not our place to meddle in Hongbin’s personal life,” Sanghyuk said and Taekwoon just looked at his friend.

Taekwoon knew it wasn’t his place to do or say anything, Sanghyuk was right, but why did he want to so much? Why was he so angry?

“Let’s go, Wonsik is waiting.” Taekwoon ended the conversation, sliding an arm on the younger’s shoulder to help him to walk. Sanghyuk’s eyes were wide and worried, thinking he had done something wrong, but Taekwoon offered him a small smile and he forgot about it the next moment.

Getting to the bottom of the stairs they found Jaehwan still laying on the floor, a beer bottle on his hand, and Hakyeon sitting next to him, talking casually about something, feet draped over the younger’s thighs.

“We’re picking Wonsik up,” Taekwoon announced to them. “Don’t burn my house down.”

Hakyeon and Jaehwan lifted their middle finger up almost simultaneously, which made Sanghyuk laugh.

As soon as the hitman closed the door behind him Jaehwan sat down. “Okay, where are the gasoline and the matches.”

Hakyeon snorted. “I’m worried about how serious you sound.”

Jaehwan took another sip of his beer. “I might be.”

Hakyeon snorted. “Didn’t know you’re a house killer too.”

“I would be surprised to see you making a joke about this if it hadn’t been _this_ bad,” Jaehwan said and the other kicked him in retaliation.

“The problem here is your sense of humor,” Hakyeon said back, not actually upset. Jaehwan laughed loud and bubbly. “You should have solved things with Hyuk earlier, you look very happy.”

“I needed time to cool down.”

“You do seem like the type to hold grudges, I feel bad for your exes.”

Jaehwan snorted. “Excuse me? My exes were the asshole ones.”

“Really? Somehow I don’t think that’s true,” Hakyeon joked.

It was Jaehwan’s time to kick the other, but so gently it was more like a push. “You have no idea of what I’ve been through.”

“Indulge me with your stories.”

“I had one ex who was so jealous of me he stole my keys so he could lock me inside my house one Saturday night,” Jaehwan said and Hakyeon lifted a brow.

“That’s insane.”

Jaehwan shrugged. “Jin was kind of insane.”

“Well, you’re right, that’s very crazy,” Hakyeon said, patting on the other’s thigh as if to comfort him.

“You think that’s it?” Jaehwan snorted. “So, you know I’ve had open relationships before, right?”

“Oh?” Hakyeon was taken aback. “I didn’t know. Have you?

Jaehwan nodded. “Yes, twice, but that’s not my point. My point is, the first one was crazy. She was the one that talked to me and wanted an open relationship in the first place, but when I went out to have my first sexual partner…” he shook his head from side to side, letting out a long breath, “she was not happy.”

Hakyeon lifted a brow. “So she was allowed to sleep with people and you weren’t?”

“Basically, yes, that’s what she wanted, so I broke up with her, obviously. The second guy I had an open relationship with was very nice, though, our rules worked very well, we lasted a while.”

“Rules,” Hakyeon echoed, finding it funny for some reason.

“Making an open relationship work is mainly a lot of talking and setting boundaries, Yeon, you can’t just go along sleeping with people and go back to your partner expecting everything to be fine.”

Hakyeon snorted. “I wouldn’t know, Jae, I’ve never been in one.”

“It can be fun, my second one was. Our system was very tight, we trusted each other and had good communication.”

“Why did it end, then?” Hakyeon asked, interested.

Jaehwan smiled, it seemed sincere to Hakyeon until he started talking. “I loved him, but he broke our main rule of keeping it sex only with others and got involved with someone else, ended up falling for her.”

Hakyeon felt bad instantly, he knew what that felt like. “Oh, Jae, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I was mad at first, but these things happen, right? Falling for someone you shouldn’t.”

“I suppose it does,” Hakyeon said, slightly awkward for a moment. “Do you only do open relationships?”

Jaehwan shook his head. “No, I’m fine with having only one partner too, it depends on who I’m with, really.”

Hakyeon hummed. “Interesting. I used to think I was really traditional when it came to relationships.”

“I think there is a “but” missing in that phrase,” Jaehwan observed, smiling.

“But,” he said laughing, “ever since Minhyuk I don’t anymore.”

“Why?”

Hakyeon shrugged. “The universe told me he was my perfect match and he was weird, gambled all my money and definitely not the best in bed.” Jaehwan choked on his beer at how casual Hakyeon sounded saying that, laughing after. “I’ve been running away from traditional ever since the Tear, I’m done with doing things that are expected from me.”

Jaehwan smiled. “That’s good,” he raised his bottled and clinked it to Hakyeon’s, toasting to the statement, “to trying new things.”

“Yes, please, to being more carefree, I need to have more fun.” Hakyeon drank.

“That’s a vague statement, what do you want to do?”

“Currently? Find someone to beat that one guy as the best sex I’ve ever had,” Hakyeon said, partially joking, partially being serious.

Jaehwan raised his arms. “Finally something I can help you with!” he joked, leaning forward and pouting, closing his eyes. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

Hakyeon burst into laughter. “Don’t show off those lips to me, they are very nice, I might just end up kissing you.”

Jaehwan smirked then, raising his brow. “I’ve told you before, Yeon, if you want to kiss me so bad, just ask,” he said intending to joke along, but it ended up sounding serious.

Hakyeon felt his heart racing slightly, the usual flirtiness seemed awfully serious that time, and with Jaehwan being that close he might just do something he could regret the next morning.

Jaehwan was gorgeous, but Hakyeon did his best to ignore how attracted to him he was for the sake of their friendship, of not losing the wonderful man he’d gotten so attached to. He didn’t know if they could have what he did with Taekwoon and not ruin everything, so it was better safe than sorry, but there was no denying it he’d thought about making the proposition before.

Jaehwan avoided the other’s eyes when he saw him blush, looking down at his hand and chuckling faintly, almost embarrassed with the situation. He then cleared his throat and raised his head, looking to the door behind Hakyeon. “They’re taking a while.”

Hakyeon nodded. “They are… do you want another beer? I think I’m not drunk enough yet and I hate it.”

Jaehwan looked at his bottle then at the man in front of him, so stunning, hair messed, skin glowing, so close. He swallowed through his dry throat. “Something tells me that I’ve had enough for today.”

Hakyeon tipped his head to the side. “Are you sure?”

Jaehwan’s eyes went down and he could only think of how his lips would feel against the exposed skin of the other’s neck, and for that reason, he nodded immediately. “Positive, I’m definitely drunk.”

Hakyeon laughed, turning his eyes. “Lightweight,” he said, getting up and going into the kitchen, pretending he hadn’t seen anything.

\--

Hongbin thought being a good liar was a talent, a talent he was very good at. Being able to pretend everything was fine when his life was a mess definitely came in very handy when he needed to keep a straight face.

He acted like nothing had happened, if anything he was even more professional in the house because of it, more strict, less comfortable. On the first days after the incident people were looking at him differently, which he made the point to ignore until eventually, things came back to normal.

Where he was the most comfortable was his office, it was the only place that was the same from before everything happened. He found comfort in the endless paperwork, his office was his safe place, paradise.

Hongbin opened his eyes when there were two knocks on the door.

“Come in,” Hongbin said and the door opened, Chansik coming in with his head down.

“Your father called ahead and asked me to tell you he’ll be here in 15 minutes.” Hongbin felt his limbs freezing.

He hadn’t seen the man yet after the night he exceeded all limits, staying at his grandparents' house. Yoohyuk was getting more and more violent as he lost control over his son, Hongbin had never seen him so out of control as he did two nights before. It should worry him, but it didn’t, it made him want to test the limits, to know how far the man that had raised him was capable of going. He masked the hurt with defiance.

“Did he tell you why he’s coming?” Hongbin asked and Chansik shook his head no. “Okay, thank you, you can go.”

As the assistant left, Hongbin occupied himself with fixing the table up as a distraction. The door didn’t take long to open again, his father letting himself in unannounced as usual.

Hongbin gave him a respectful bow of the head, still seated. He thought it would benefit him to keep a desk between them. His father noticed but chose not to say anything, sitting in front of his son and crossing his leg on top of the other.

“How have you been?” Joohyuk asked. For a moment Hongbin thought he was hearing things, but the man kept staring, waiting for his son’s reply.

Hongbin blinked a couple of times, forcing his eyes to return to a normal size before he said anything. “Well, thank you,” he replied, so focused on reading the intentions behind his father’s question he forgot to ask it back.

“Good, I’m glad, son,” he answered and Hongbin had to physically force his jaw not to fall.

“What do you need from me?”

Joohyuk frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, why are you here?” he asked, the obvious confusion in his tone erasing any rudeness the question might have carried otherwise.

“Oh.” Joohyuk chuckled. “I came to go over the speech with you.”

“Chansik already gave it to me, you don’t have to worry, I’ve started practicing and I assure you it’s under control.”

Joohyuk nodded. “I know you have it under control, I was just wondering if you wanted help,” he said and Hongbin couldn’t control his eyes that time, pretty sure they were as wide as they could humanly be.

“I- Wonsik has been helping me. Thank you?” Joohyuk nodded then the silence stretched again.

“Okay, good, the reason I’m truly here-” _Here it comes._ “Is to apologize.” _What?_

Hongbin just stared at his father, blinking way less than he should, trying to see if he was joking.

“Please, Hongbin, you don’t need to look that surprised. I’ve been a slightly- unfair with you and I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” Joohyuk said, sounding like the act had made him exhausted.

“Okay?” Hongbin tried, uncomfortable, the whole situation didn’t seem real.

“Good. Now we got that out of the way, let’s go over everything.” He jumped right back into business after his half-hearted apology. Hongbin should be offended, the man had been acting verbally and physically violent pretty much every time he saw him for the last month, but business was something he was comfortable with, so he accepted the odd change of subject.

Hongbin took a deep breath and started to tell his father about all the plans for the delivery, all the timing down to the second, who would go, who would be receiving on the other side, what had to be done if something went wrong. His father had nothing to add in the end, Hongbin had planned everything thoroughly.

“I think you’re ready,” Joohyuk said.

Hongbin had to hold himself not to laugh. “I am, yes.”

“So I’ll see you tomorrow before I have to go.”

Hongbin was happy, all things considered, he would have to traffic cocaine and make a very important public appearance almost two days in a row, but at least he wouldn’t have to see him his father for a week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sowwy 
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/beanguni)


End file.
